Delimitation provisions in women's reservation bill 'attack on democracy': Kerala Opposition
Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi (PTI): Opposition leaders from Kerala on Thursday reiterated their objections to the delimitation provisions in the Women's Reservation Amendment Bill set to be introduced in the Parliament, terming it as an "attack on democracy".
The opposition leaders, including Congress general secretary K C Venugopal, UDF MP N K Premachandran and CPI leader Annie Raja, said they were in favour of reservation for women in the current strength of the Parliament, but will not accept the delimitation provisions being brought under its garb.
"The delimitation provisions in the bill will be defeated by us," Venugopal told reporters in Delhi.
He said that the provisions were aimed at "butchering" democracy and questioned why the Centre has not done anything till now after the Women's Reservation Bill was passed in 2023.
"We back then itself wanted the reservation to be implemented in the 543-member Parliament. But they imposed conditions like census and delimitation for implementing it," Venugopal said.
He claimed that the delimitation will only result in exacerbating the neglect being shown to Kerala.
The Congress leader further said that the delimitation provisions were a "hidden trap" and the agenda behind it was clear as two states are going for Assembly polls.
He claimed that the delimitation which was "arbitrarily carried out" in Assam and Jammu and Kashmir is being sought to be implemented across the country by the central government.
Similar views were expressed by Premachandran and Raja.
Premachandran contended that the delimitation provisions, if passed, will lead to an increase of over 200 seats for north Indian states and just 60 for south Indian states.
"The intention behind it is to allow the BJP to rule over the country with the overwhelming majority it will have from the north Indian states while isolating the south Indian states," he alleged.
Raja alleged that the delimitation provisions in the amendment bill seek to sabotage democracy and federalism of the country in the name of reservation for women.
A special three-day sitting of Parliament will be held from April 16 to 18, during which amendments to the 'Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam', commonly known as the Women's Reservation Act, mandating 33 per cent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, will be brought for implementation in 2029.
The amendments also seek to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 850 from the current 543 to "operationalise" the women's reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise to be carried out based on the last published census.
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Iran reimposes restrictions on Strait of Hormuz, accusing US of violating deal to reopen it
Cairo (AP): Iran swiftly reversed course on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, reimposing restrictions on the critical waterway on Saturday after the US said it would not end its blockade of Iran-linked shipping.
Iran's joint military command said on Saturday that “control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state ... under strict management and control of the armed forces.” It warned that it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the US blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.
The announcement came the morning after US President Donald Trump said that even after Iran announced the strait's reopening on Friday, the American blockade “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the US, including on its nuclear programme.
The conflict over the chokepoint threatened to deepen the energy crisis roiling the global economy after oil prices began to fall again on Friday on hopes the US and Iran were drawing closer to an agreement. Roughly one-fifth of the world's oil passes through the strait, and further limits would squeeze already constrained supply, driving prices higher once again.
Control over the strait has proven to be one of Iran's main points of leverage and prompted the United States to deploy forces and initiate a blockade on Iranian ports as part of an effort to force Iran to accept a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire to end almost seven weeks of war that has raged between Israel, the US and Iran.
Iran said it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels after a 10-day truce was announced between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. But after Trump said the blockade would continue, top Iranian officials said his announcement violated last week's ceasefire agreement between Iran and the US and warned the strait would not stay open if the US blockade remained in effect.
A data firm, Kpler, said movement through the strait remained confined to corridors requiring Iran's approval.
US forces have sent 21 ships back to Iran since the blockade began on Monday, US Central Command said on X.
Truce in Lebanon could help US-Iran peace efforts
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The ceasefire in Lebanon could clear one major obstacle to an agreement. But it was unclear to what extent Hezbollah would abide by a deal it did not play a role in negotiating, and which will leave Israeli troops occupying a stretch of southern Lebanon.
Trump said in another post that Israel is “prohibited” by the US from further strikes on Lebanon and that “enough is enough” in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
The State Department said the prohibition applies only to offensive attacks and not to actions taken in self-defence.
Shortly before Trump's post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel agreed to the ceasefire in Lebanon “at the request of my friend President Trump,” but that the campaign against Hezbollah is not complete.
He claimed Israel had destroyed about 90 per cent of Hezbollah's missile and rocket stockpiles and added that Israeli forces “have not finished yet” with the dismantling of the group.
In Beirut, displaced families began moving toward southern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs despite warnings by officials not to return to their homes until it became clear whether the ceasefire would hold.
The Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon reported sporadic artillery shelling in some parts of southern Lebanon in the hours after the ceasefire took effect.
An end to Israel's war with Hezbollah was a key demand of Iranian negotiators, who previously accused Israel of breaking last week's ceasefire with strikes on Lebanon. Israel had said that the deal did not cover Lebanon.
The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen US service members have also been killed.
