4 min readApr 13, 2026 06:11 AM IST
First published on: Apr 13, 2026 at 06:11 AM IST
India does not suffer from a shortage of capable women. It suffers from a shortage of women where national decisions are made. That contradiction has grown too stark to ignore. With the passage of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam in September 2023, constitutional intent is no longer in question. Guided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision and commitment to women-led development, this has translated into a constitutional reality. The landmark legislation rotationally reserves one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and all state legislative assemblies, a structural correction three decades in the making. What remains is execution. The urgency of that execution is underscored by a widening chasm between India’s social reality and its political architecture.
In 2024, India elected 74 women to the Lok Sabha — just 13.6 per cent of total membership, a decrease from 14.4 per cent in 2019. State assemblies fare worse still, with women comprising only 9 per cent of MLAs across India in 2025. Among all MPs and MLAs combined, only 10 per cent are women, 464 out of 4,666 elected representatives. India’s global standing in women’s parliamentary representation sits at 143rd, against a global average of 27.6 per cent. For a democracy of India’s scale and ambition, this is a structural imbalance that demands correction.
The economic backdrop makes this political underrepresentation all the more incongruous. Over 30 crore Jan Dhan accounts are held by women. More than 70 per cent of beneficiaries under flagship microcredit and self-help group programmes are women, networks that have evolved into powerful engines of rural productivity. Female enrolment in higher education has reached record levels. Women are entering STEM careers, the Armed Forces, and entrepreneurial ecosystems at an unprecedented pace. And yet, the highest table of democratic decision-making has yet to reflect this transformation.
India has a working proof-of-concept for what happens when that design is corrected. The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments, which mandated one-third reservation for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and urban local bodies, now constitute one of the most consequential natural experiments in democratic governance anywhere in the world.
Out of approximately 31 lakh elected representatives in local governments today, nearly 14.5 lakh (46 per cent) are women, a scale of representation unparallelled anywhere in the world.
More importantly, representation has translated into measurable governance outcomes. Studies have consistently found that elected women representatives at the panchayat level are less likely to be associated with corruption, and more likely to invest in health, education, and drinking water. In Bihar, where women now hold over 50 per cent of PRI seats, studies have recorded measurable improvements in child-immunisation rates and access to drinking water in women-led panchayats. Across Andhra Pradesh, SHG-linked women leaders, many empowered through centrally-sponsored livelihood missions, have driven village-level improvements in sanitation and school attendance.
Reservation also works as a political pipeline. Female reservation at the local-government level has measurably increased the proportion of women contesting and winning assembly elections, consistent with a gradual movement of women up the political hierarchy. Reservation does build institutions. It is to the credit of PM Modi’s leadership and the present government that this moment has been recognised for what it is, not merely a political opportunity, but a historic correction of a structural design flaw in India’s democracy. The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam is an acknowledgement that the architecture of representation must catch up with the reality of women’s contribution.
India today has a critical mass of educated, economically active, and socially empowered women ready to step into legislative roles. The policy ecosystem has already shifted in their favour. Public attitudes are evolving. Political will, at least in constitutional terms, has been expressed. What cannot be allowed is for the momentum of this historic reform to slow. The delimitation exercise that triggers the Act’s provisions must be advanced. A constitutional promise deferred is a democratic dividend denied.
Political equity is not the first step in India’s gender journey. It is the final, decisive one. The arc of change is already visible. What remains is to ensure that women are not merely participants in India’s growth story, but architects of it. The moment is now.
The writer is a former Union minister
