A PARTY TO BEAT ALL PARTIES: BJP’s Sushma Swaraj (L) and CPI(M)’s Brinda Karat—who represent the Right and Left extremities of the political spectrum—on Tuesday turned sisters-in-arms on the reservation bill – Times of India, March 10, 2010
The picture says it all. If getting the bill passed in the Upper House can do this, wonder what it is capable of doing when passed in the Lower House as well! Just wonder! This is what the proponents of the bill would like to advocate.
What is this Women Reservation Bill? The legislation proposed to reserve 33.3 percent seats for women at each level of legislative decision-making, starting with the Lok Sabha, down to state and local legislatures. The bill was first drafted by Deve Gowda led United Front government in 1996. In continuation of the existing provisions already mandating reservations for scheduled caste and scheduled tribes, one-third of such SC and ST candidates must be women. Since September 12, 1996, when the draft was first introduced in the Parliament, it has been 14 years of Vanvaas that the Bill is finally seeing light of the day. Though the ordeal is yet from over.
All these years, the Bill could not be passed essentially because of lack of political consensus. It has always triggered heated debates (even physical) inside and outside Parliament. So what has been the journey so far?
· The path-breaking Bill was first introduced in the Lok Sabha by the Deve Gowda government on Sept 12, 1996.
· It was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee chaired by Geeta Mukherjee, which presented its report to the Lok Sabha on December 9, 1996.
· Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s NDA government re-introduced the bill in the 12th Lok Sabha in 1998.
· The NDA government re-introduced the bill in the 13th Lok Sabha in 1999.
· It moved the Bill again amid pandemonium in 2002 and Left parties and the Congress gave assurances to support the bill if taken up.
· The Bill was introduced twice in Parliament in 2003
· In 2004, the UPA government includes it in the Common Minimum Programme
· In 2005, BJP announced complete support for the bill but it yields to the objections of Uma Bharati and several others within the party, who stress on quota within quota for women on caste basis.
· In 2008, the government tabled the bill in the Rajya Sabha so that the legislation does not lapse.
· The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice, and Personnel recommended passage of the Bill in Dec 2009.
· The Bill was cleared by the Union Cabinet on February 25, 2010 and placed before the Upper House on March 08, 2010
· After initial hiccups the bill is passed in the Rajya Sabha on March 10, 2010
· The government is planning to table it in the Lok Sabha when the budget session resumes on April 12.
| Women Reservation Bill | |
| For The Motion | Against The Motion |
| · Essential for active political participation of women · Increased political participation of women will help them fight the abuse, discrimination, and inequality they suffer from, resulting in the empowerment of women as a whole · Supporters argue that provision of reservation for women is only for 15 years. · The idea of reservation is to create a level playing field so that women can raise their share in politics and society and then, look for equal status · 33.3 percent seats in panchayat elections have already been reserved for women and the results are very encouraging. This is the largest mobilization of women in public life in the world. | · The SP and RJD are opposed to the bill in its present form and want a quota within quota for women from backward classes. · Reservation would only help women of elitist groups gain political power, aggravating the plight of the poor and deprived sections · Fear that many of their male leaders would not get a chance to fight elections if 33.3 percent seats are reserved for women · If 33.3 per cent reservation for women is added to the already existing 22.5 percent for scheduled castes and tribes, more than 55 per cent of seats in Parliament would be reserved. This would not be fair to other sections of the population · Asking for reservation, women are perpetuating unequal status for themselves · If inadequacy of representation is the issue, why not reservation for Muslim women (there are only two in the present Lok Sabha)? · Most members feel it is better to create reservation of women in political parties than in Parliament. The provision of rotation of reserved states is also debated |
There is yet another school of thought who is against the concept of reservation itself. The group if of the belief that reservations have done no good to the Indian democracy, if not bad and the latest in the kitty would be no different. Reservation in itself is a proof to the failure of the state and the political system!
Further, discrimination is not a new phenomenon to women folk. They face a thousand forms of it every day, every minute. Be it foeticide, infanticide, dowry, domestic, physical, sexual abuse and what not! The idea that more women in the legislature would change the picture is doubted for valid reasons. There are already adequate laws and rules to safe guard and promote gender equality. The current bill will do little to change the grassroots reality.
What is needed is an affirmative action rather than reservation is what the critics feel is the need of the hour. Alas! The same was voiced during the OBC reservation issue and even before that and no action was initiated but ‘reservation’. Also, any self-respecting women would want to be ‘here’ because she deserves to be ‘here’ and not because of her gender.
Having said all that, all the pros and cons, the fact remains the bill has been passed in the Upper House and is due tabled in the Lower House next month. The journey of the bill has been quite uneven like the real issue of women empowerment and it would remain so even if its legislated again much alike to the state of ‘women of 21st century’ who is still unsafe traveling alone on the capital roads! So only three words to all of us - All The Best!
