Women's reservation: Political bonding or chauvinism!

True, Indian constituency has come a long way in recognizing and supporting women. Since Independence, 10 landmark laws have been passed to empower women. The Indian society is more open to accepting women at par with men! Be it in armed forces, corporate section, media and government offices! There is also a marked rise in Girls attending schools in rural areas.

But, ironically, in our Parliament, supposed to be the face of India, Women's Reservation Bill still hangs in balance from years unknown!

It has taken 50 years for the percentage of women in the Lok Sabha to increase from 4.4 to 8.8, slow but steady progress!

One-third of seats in village councils are reserved for women but the Women's Reservation Bill (WRB) providing 33 pc reservation for women in Lok Sabha and State Legislatures, introduced in 1996, is yet to face the light of the day! What a tragedy!

Promises, promises and promises from the reigning Governments have just kept this bill floating in every session of the Parliament. Successive governments have placed it on the floor of the house only to show that publicly they are not hostile to the bill.

So, the WRB bill has now been placed firmly on the national political agenda and all political parties are taking utmost publicity by either suggesting proposals or counter-proposals to it!

Shivraj Patil, our honorable Home Minister, had once suggested that WRB can be passed only if double-member constituencies are introduced in one-third of all parliamentary seats. Basically this means that 182 seats in Parliament will be represented by two MPs, one of which has to be a woman, says Patil. This principle will work by rotation with one-third seats being changed after each general election.

This resulted in wide spread fury among all women activist groups. This will only send out the message that women MPs are incompetent, they claimed.

A MP from Telugu Desam says, "Why should we agree to sign our own death warrant?"
It will be that, if this WRB bill is passed in its original form. 33 pc reservation for women and along with quota for scheduled castes and tribes, make 50 pc of seats unavailable to men. Which body of men will give up their seats to allow women to take over?

Blame it on Male bonding, says Women and Child Development Minister Renuka Chowdhury. But, she is confident that Women's Reservation bill will be passed in near future. "We don't want to get the new law without their (men) consent. They should agree to it," she remarked, while asking her colleagues to take clue from women empowerment at the Panchayat level because of reservation for them.

Sushma Swaraj, Sonia Gandhi, Brinda Karat in their own way are, convincing party members to support the WRB bill. But, as we all know our politicians prefer to have a little biased view on women issues. It's a free country, after all!

Anyways, by recognizing and passing a bill against domestic violence, its not far when India as a pioneering new power in World, will confer women its rightful position!