Indian women demand more parliamentary seats

Thousands of women have demonstrated in the Indian capital, Delhi, to show their support for a bill which would guarantee women one-third of all parliamentary seats.

Women's groups said the prime minister, Mr Vajpayee, had assured them that the reservations bill would be discussed in the current session of parliament, but that it had not even been listed on the parliamentary schedule.

A BBC correspondent in Delhi said that the demonstration was unusually large, and involved women from all over the country.

The bill has been put forward several times, but has never been passed through parliament.

Women currently make up only forty-nine out the five-hundred-and-forty-five legislators.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service