‘Winter session may not clear Women’s Bill’

hyderabad: rajya sabha deputy chairperson dr najma heptullah on tuesday expressed doubts on the long-awaited women's reservation bill being passed in the current session of parliament. talking to reporters here, dr najma heptullah said she had requested prime minister vajpayee to present the bill in the current session, but was not confident that it would be done.she said as the bill was supported by all major political parties, it should be presented in the lok sabha again, to expose its opponents. she added that as the bill made it mandatory to give 33 per cent party tickets to women in future elections, the male members of parliament were scared of being replaced by women if it was passed. she sarcastically remarked that a bill providing reservation for women in local bodies was passed as it did not affect the interests of the members of parliament themselves. earlier, she inaugurated a workshop on 'women's empowerment: policies and programmes' organised by a research organisation — youth for action in association with and the friedrich ebert stiftung (fes) of germany. heptullah said that it was not sufficient for laws to be passed for the welfare of women, but they should be properly implemented.