In a historic moment, the first woman member from Nagaland in the Rajya Sabha, S Phangnon Konyak on Tuesday presided over the House, during the Monsoon Session.
"Immensely privileged, humbled and overwhelmed to preside over the Rajya Sabha today. Happy that it was a productive one with The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Fifth Amendment) Bill, 2022, having been passed by the House.
"Under the visionary leadership of Hon'ble PM Shri @narendramodi Ji, women today are being given due respect and space in politics and leadership. My heartfelt gratitude to most respected Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar Ji for this opportunity," said Phangnom, who is also the Nagaland BJP Mahila Morcha president.
Earlier, Phangnom created history by becoming the first-ever woman to be elected as Member of Rajya Sabha from Nagaland in April 2022 and the second woman from the state to be elected to either House of the Parliament or the State Assembly.
She also became the first-ever woman member to be appointed to the panel of vice-chairpersons on July 17, 2023.
In a remarkable move to bring about gender equality, Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar had recently nominated four women members (50 per cent of the total number) to the panel of vice-chairpersons.
"In a historic move, Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar reconstitutes the panel of Vice-Chairpersons with 50% women Parliamentarians. All four women Parliamentarians nominated are first time members," tweeted the vice-president Twitter handle.
All the eight women members nominated to the panel, which was reconstituted before the Monsoon Session, are first-term Parliamentarians.
This is the first time in the history of the Upper House that equal representation has been given to women members in the panel of Vice-Chairpersons, the vice-president secretariat stated in a release on Tuesday.
The other women members nominated to the panel of vice-chairpersons include PT Usha, S Phangnon Konyak, Dr Fauzia Khan of the Nationalist Congress Party, Sulata Deo of the Biju Janata Dal.
