Up with Women Down with Democracy
The whole country, particularly the media is ga ga with the passage of Women's Reservation bill in Rajya Sabha. But it has left several questions unanswered.
1. The bill, when turns into act, is bound to promote women in politics. But which women? Realising the escalating cost of election expenses, which woman will dare to fight elections at the cost of her husband and family? The answer is very clear - only those women born and brought up in political families. If Lalu Yadav's or for that matter any politician's seat is declared gender-specific, the obvious choice of candidature for that particular time period will be his closest woman kin. Ordinary women will keep fighting at panchayat elections upto district level unless a woman sarpanch is so corrupt that she enmasses enough wealth to fight the Lok Sabha or even assembly elections. Will such women be more competent than corrupt men politicians?
2.The Law will be unconstitutional as it will arbiterarily restrict men's profession (politics here) to lesser number of constituencies that will go against the freedom of profession, a Fundamental Right.
3. Experience has shown that wherever the seats have been reserved for women, e.g. in Bangladesh and Phillipines, the position of ordinary women, rather than improving, has deteriorated further. On the other hand, most of the countries (mainly in Europe) where political parties have the constitutional obligation to nominate a specific number of women for elections, women's emancipation has been more meaningful. In the US, where Black women faced racial as well as gender discrimination, after reservation of seats, their condition turned from bad to worse.
5. As the seats will be reserved on rotational basis, a woman will remain an elected member only for five years. Thereafter, it will become an unreserved seat. The voters as well as the candidates will know that the representative will remain only for five years. Therefore, nobody will be serious and the development of the area will suffer.
6. The life of the bill/act has been restricted to 15 years. What will happen to it after that?
4.While Ms. Mamta Banerjee abstained from voting, is it not the mockery of collective responsibility of the Cabinet?
%. Ms. Sonia Gandhi, after the passage of the bill in Rajya Sabha, in an interview, did not look as enthusiastic of its passage in Lok Sabha in the current session. The message is clear. The government will not push the bill in Lok Sabha the way it did in Rajya Sabha. So it is bound to become 44th such bill introduced in the Parliament but not passed.
1. The bill, when turns into act, is bound to promote women in politics. But which women? Realising the escalating cost of election expenses, which woman will dare to fight elections at the cost of her husband and family? The answer is very clear - only those women born and brought up in political families. If Lalu Yadav's or for that matter any politician's seat is declared gender-specific, the obvious choice of candidature for that particular time period will be his closest woman kin. Ordinary women will keep fighting at panchayat elections upto district level unless a woman sarpanch is so corrupt that she enmasses enough wealth to fight the Lok Sabha or even assembly elections. Will such women be more competent than corrupt men politicians?
2.The Law will be unconstitutional as it will arbiterarily restrict men's profession (politics here) to lesser number of constituencies that will go against the freedom of profession, a Fundamental Right.
3. Experience has shown that wherever the seats have been reserved for women, e.g. in Bangladesh and Phillipines, the position of ordinary women, rather than improving, has deteriorated further. On the other hand, most of the countries (mainly in Europe) where political parties have the constitutional obligation to nominate a specific number of women for elections, women's emancipation has been more meaningful. In the US, where Black women faced racial as well as gender discrimination, after reservation of seats, their condition turned from bad to worse.
5. As the seats will be reserved on rotational basis, a woman will remain an elected member only for five years. Thereafter, it will become an unreserved seat. The voters as well as the candidates will know that the representative will remain only for five years. Therefore, nobody will be serious and the development of the area will suffer.
6. The life of the bill/act has been restricted to 15 years. What will happen to it after that?
4.While Ms. Mamta Banerjee abstained from voting, is it not the mockery of collective responsibility of the Cabinet?
%. Ms. Sonia Gandhi, after the passage of the bill in Rajya Sabha, in an interview, did not look as enthusiastic of its passage in Lok Sabha in the current session. The message is clear. The government will not push the bill in Lok Sabha the way it did in Rajya Sabha. So it is bound to become 44th such bill introduced in the Parliament but not passed.
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