New Delhi, Feb. 19 :    New Delhi, Feb. 19:  President K.R. Narayanan urged politicians to arrive at a consensus on the Women's Reservation Bill and ensure that it was passed during the Budget session. 'This would be a fitting tribute by India's Parliament to the 'Year of Women's Empowerment', which we are observing this year,' Narayanan said in his joint address to both Houses of Parliament amid loud cheers from women MPs. The President said although the Bill to legislate 33 per cent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state legislatures had already been introduced in Parliament, it was 'unfortunate' that it had not yet been enacted into law. He stressed that one of the major gains of Indian democracy was the 'ever-growing active participation of women in the political process', not just as voters but also as elected representatives and bearers of executive responsibility. Narayanan put the Women's Bill in the context of the 'acute awareness' among women of their under-representation in Parliament and state legislatures. Although the emphasis on the contentious Bill was seen as a signal of the Vajpayee government's intent to take it up in the Budget session, BJP sources were sceptical of the result. They admitted that key NDA constituents like the Samata Party and Janata Dal (United) were opposed to the Bill in its present form and added that backward caste MPs of the BJP had demanded a separate quota within the 33 per cent for OBC women. Apart from the Women's Bill, the President also addressed the issue of the Gujarat quake and mentioned the Orissa super-cyclone while doing so. 'The catastrophe in Gujarat, as also the super-cyclone in Orissa in 1999 and natural calamities in other parts of the country in recent years, have once again highlighted the urgent need to expand and modernise our disaster management capabilities,' he said. Narayanan also called for updating existing construction rules and regulations, enforcing them with rigour, and ensuring stern action against violators. The President also spoke of the government's intent to set up a permanent National Disaster Management Authority with suitable statutory authorities in the states, based on the recommendations of the newly-constituted National Committee on Disaster Management, which held its first sitting yesterday. There was no direct reference to the Constitution review panel, after the government realised that an explicit reference may reopen the differences between the President and the Prime Minister on subjects like indirect election and a fixed tenure for Parliament. Narayanan, however, said Parliament should do its best to further the republican values enshrined in our Constitution. President also stated that the government was 'uncompromising' in its commitment to secularism. 'We have stepped up our vigil against communal and extremist organisations. The law will take its course unsparingly and impartially against those who seek to create trouble,' warned Narayanan.