For the fourth consecutive day on Thursday Parliament did not function but both the Houses were unanimous in promoting women's rights on the occasion of the International Women's Day. The Rajya Sabha urged the early passage of the Women's Reservation Bill passed by it and now pending in the Lok Sabha.

Appreciating the sentiments of the members, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said the "Bill should be backed by will, administrative skills and then go for the kill to remove the evil" of gender injustice and discrimination against women. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan extended greetings to the people on the occasion and exhorted the women to move forward with renewed vigour and confidence.

The Upper House, marred by repeated adjournments for the last three days, functioned normally for an hour in the pre lunch session to discuss the issue of rights of women and improving their plight. However, the peace was short lived as members resorted to protest after the discussion ended forcing one adjournment in the morning and then for the day shortly after the House met again after lunch. TDP and AIADMK members rushed into the well on the issue of special category status to Andhra Pradesh and constitution of Cauvery Management Board respectively.

Earlier, Naidu said the International Women's Day was being observed all over the world to celebrate the achievements of women as well as to renew the commitment to empowering them and ending gender biases."With women constituting about 50 per cent of our population, social, economic and political empowerment of women, including providing reservation in Parliament and state legislatures, has to be accorded top priority for the country to achieve rapid progress," Naidu said. He also agreed to a suggestion by some members to have a woman member in the panel for Vice Chairman.

Women MPs cutting across party lines pressed for early passage of the Women's Reservation bill. Veteran Congress leader Ambika Soni said a resolution should be passed by the House to support the legislation providing reservation to women in Parliament and assemblies. Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad expressed concern over rising incidents of sexual assault against the girl child and agreed with others on the early passage of the bill.

External Affair Minister Sushma Swaraj said she favoured the bill and said although women have excelled in many fields and entered areas so far dominated by men, but still "continued to face injustice, which is shameful", she said and called or a mass movement to usher in a change of the mindset of the people towards women. Derek O'Brien(TMC), Viplove Thakur(Congress), Sanjay Singh(AAP), Kanimozhi(DMK), Dilip Tirkey(BJD), Anu Agha(nominated), Satish Mishra(BSP) and Subramanian Swamy(BJP) also spoke on the occasion.

In the Lok Sabha, the Speaker said women's empowerment was the need of the hour as well as a big challenge. She emphasised the need to work together for all-round development of women for positive change.

Soon after she ended her speech, members of the TDP, AIADMK, TRS and TMC trooped into the Well, with many holding placards and raising slogans. Amid the din, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal moved the Supplementary Demands for Grants seeking Parliament nod for additional cash spending of Rs 85,315 crore.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar urged the Speaker to continue with the listed business and said "We are ready to discuss irregularities in the banking sector."

He also said a debate under Rule 193, which does not entail voting, was listed on agenda on the alleged systemic irregularities in banking sector over the years and its impact on Indian economy. However, as protests continued, Mahajan adjourned the proceedings first till noon and thereafter for the entire day.