India votes in favour of UNGA resolution demanding immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza
United Nations(PTI): India has voted in favour of a draft resolution in the UN General Assembly that demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict and unconditional release of all hostages.
The 193-member UN General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted the resolution at an emergency special session on Tuesday, with 153 nations voting in its favour, 10 voting against and 23 abstentions.
India was among the 153 nations that voted in favour of the resolution, adopted amid a round of applause in the GA hall.
Those voting against included Austria, Israel and the US while Germany, Hungary, Italy, Ukraine and the UK were among those who abstained.
The resolution, introduced by Egypt, demanded "an immediate humanitarian ceasefire" and reiterated its "demand that all parties comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, notably about the protection of civilians".
It also demanded the "immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as ensuring humanitarian access".
The resolution however did not name Hamas. Austria and the US had each moved an amendment to the draft text.
The amendment tabled by Austria called for the insertion of the line "held by Hamas and other groups" after the word "hostages" in the main draft as well as called for ensuring "immediate" humanitarian access.
The amendment tabled by the US called for the insertion, in the main draft, of the paragraph "unequivocally rejects and condemns the attacks by Hamas that took place in Israel starting October 7 and the taking of hostages".
India voted in favour of both the amendments.
However, the two amendments to the draft resolution could not be adopted since they failed to get the required two-thirds majority of votes.
The Austrian-introduced amendment got 89 votes in favour, 61 against and 20 abstentions while the US-proposed amendment got 84 votes in favour, 62 against and 25 abstentions.
In October, India had abstained in the General Assembly on a resolution that had called for an immediate humanitarian truce in the Israel-Hamas conflict leading to a cessation of hostilities and unhindered humanitarian access in the Gaza strip.
The resolution was adopted with 120 nations voting in favour, 14 against and 45 abstentions.
Along with India, countries that had abstained from the October resolution included Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
The vote in the UNGA came days after the 15-nation Security Council failed to adopt a resolution that would have demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza after the US exercised its veto.
The UNSC resolution, tabled by the United Arab Emirates and backed by over 90 member states, got 13 votes in its favour while the UK abstained.
More than 1,200 people were killed, including 33 children, and thousands injured in the attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups on October 7.
Since the start of Israel's military operation, the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza said at least 18,205 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, about 70 per cent women and children, and about 49,645 are reportedly injured, according to estimates by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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Govt using women's quota pretext to push delimitation: TMC
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New Delhi (PTI): The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday accused the government of using the pretext of early implementation of women's reservation law to "bulldoze" its "real agenda of delimitation".
The TMC said it has always supported women's reservation, but the government cannot "rush" through a bill that will "change the political map" of India based on the 2011 Census.
Parliament is set to meet from April 16 to 18 to consider bills to ensure the implementation of the 33 per cent quota in legislative bodies for women in the 2029 elections. It includes increasing the strength of the Lok Sabha from 543 to 816 seats, with 273 seats reserved for women, and amendments to the Delimitation Act to enable redrawing of constituencies.
In a post on X, TMC Rajya Sabha leader Derek O'Brien shared a video of his earlier speech on the Constitution (128th Amendment) Bill, 2023 -- also known as the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam -- and underlined his party’s long-standing advocacy for women’s reservation.
He recalled that TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had raised the issue in Parliament as early as July 14, 1998.
Highlighting his party’s track record, O’Brien pointed to the proportion of women candidates fielded and elected by the TMC, stating that the party had given 41 per cent tickets to women in 2014 and currently has one of the highest shares of women MPs.
"Modi govt cannot rush through a bill in a special parliament session bang in the middle of Assembly Polls, a bill that will change the political map of India based on the 2011 census (data which is fifteen years old) in 2026 without greater discussion (sic)," TMC Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha Sagarika Ghose said on X.
"Mr Modi-Shah must be reminded: India is not a single-party democracy. Bulldozing and bullying is against the parliamentary spirit," she said.
In a post on X, TMC leader and former Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale accused the government of running a "fake and malicious agenda " claiming it wants “early reservations for women in Parliament”.
"In reality, Modi is using women as an excuse to bulldoze his real agenda of delimitation (which is redrawing boundaries of Lok Sabha & Assembly seats in states to benefit the BJP)," he alleged.
He said that at the time of passage of the bill on women's reservation in 2023, opposition parties had expressed concern that its implementation would be delayed, but the government had ignored them, and said it would happen after the Census in 2026.
"Now, suddenly, just when Bengal and Tamil Nadu are going to elections, Modi decides that delimitation will be done before the 2026 Census. Instead of conducting delimitation based on India’s actual population, the Modi government has come up with its own unknown formula," he said.
He questioned the connection between delimitation and women's reservation, and what is stopping the government from implementing it on the existing 543 seats without delimitation.
The Union Cabinet has cleared draft bills to operationalise the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam ahead of the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. The proposed changes include increasing the strength of the Lok Sabha from 543 to 816 seats, with 273 seats reserved for women.
The legislative package is expected to include a Constitution amendment bill to modify provisions of the Act, alongside amendments to the Delimitation Act to enable redrawing of constituencies in line with the expanded House strength.
Another bill is also likely to extend the implementation of the reservation framework to Union Territories with legislatures, including Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry.
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