Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, July 20: With the nomination of 50% female members to the panel of Vice-Chairpersons by reconstituting the post, Rajya Sabha achieved gender parity in a historic milestone.
There are eight names on the panel that was reconstituted before the Monsoon Session, and half of them are women. For the first time in the Upper House’s history, female members of the Vice-Chairpersons’ panel have equal representation.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar made the remarks regarding the nominations of the four female Parliamentarians to the panel of Vice-Chairpersons on Thursday when the House gathered at 12 noon on the first day of the Monsoon Session.
S Phangnon Konyak became the first woman from Nagaland nominated to the panel of Vice-Chairpersons, and all the women members nominated are first-term parliamentarians. Additionally, Konyak is the first Naga woman to be elected to the Rajya Sabha.
PT Usha, a Padma Shri recipient and well-known athlete along with S. Phangnon Konyak, Fauzia Khan and Sulata Deo are some of the female candidates for the panel of Vice-Chairpersons.
PT Usha received a Rajya Sabha nomination in July 2022. She belongs to the Defence Committee, the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, and the Ethics Committee.
S Phangnon Konyak is from BJP. She became the second woman from the state to be elected to either the House of Parliament or the state Assembly. She is also the first woman from Nagaland to be elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha in April 2022. She is a member of the House Committee, the Committee on Empowerment of Women, the Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region and the Governing Council of the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences, Shillong.
Fauzia Khan is from Nationalist Congress Party. She was elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 2020. She is a member of the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Law and Justice, Committee on Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Committee for the Empowerment of Women.
Sulata Deo is from Biju Janata Dal. She was elected to the Rajya Sabha in July 2022. She is a member of the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the Committee on Industry, the Committee on Empowerment of Women, the Joint Committee on Office of Profit, the Committee on Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS), and the Committee on Industry.
V Vijayasai Reddy, Ghanshyam Tiwari, L Hanumanthaiah and Sukhendu Sekhar Ray have also been nominated as members of the panel of Vice Chairpersons in addition to these female members.
