Dr Maongsangba
The much-hyped women’s reservation bill, which was first introduced in Parliament in September 1996, still, could not see the light of the day. After long nine years of labor, the ill-fated bill was yet aborted again. The mavericks that played spoilsport were none other than the two regional satraps Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalo Prasad Yadav with Mayawati providing back-up support to the duo. The trio does not see eye to eye on almost every issue, but found a common ground on the women’s reservation issue and scuttled the safe delivery of the women reservation bill in the recent monsoon session of Parliament.
SP Chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav considers the bill as anti democratic and his bete noire RJD chief, Lalo Prasad Yadav concurs with him. Their opposition to the women’s reservation begins and ends there. The RJD chief wants separate quota for SC, ST, OBC and Muslims. The SP chief felt that 33 percent reservation was not fair and is opposed to gender-based reservation, but press for earmarking 10 percent for women by all political parties while distributing tickets. For the wily Hindi cow belt politicians, this was the most dignified way of finding escape route to scuttle the bill. The JD (U) is also not averse to “quota within quota” but would never hesitate to sing a different tune when it comes to the crunch.
The last straw was the volte-face of the BJP, who initially hobnobbed with its bete noire, the Leftist and the Congress, but backed out on the plea that they could not support the bill in the current form due to lack of consensus. The combined strength of the trio in the Lok Sabha would have seen the passage of the bill. The somersault of the Rightist in the last moment rendered the Leftist and left-of the centre, Congress high and dry.
The BJP in a bid to resolve the impasse suggested that, the Election commission proposal of earmarking 33 percent tickets for women to contest the polls should be implemented. According to V.K Malhotra, the BJP Spokesperson, this option was in deference to the wishes of the majority of political parties despite the UPA government’s effort to increase the total number of seats in Parliament. However, there are still many individual Congress leaders who are opposed to the reservation for women but constrain to remain tight-lipped due to possible fear of reprisal.
The politics of reservation can be traced back to the Rajiv Gandhi era, which was popularized in the 1990’s where all political parties scrambled to echo this demand and subsequently made it a part of election manifesto in 1996 to attract women voters. The votary of reservation for women in elective bodies achieved partial success with 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments providing 33 percent reservation for women in Panchayati Raj institution and Municipal corporations. However, 33 percent reservation in the State Legislatures and Parliament may not achieve the desired results as majority of powerful politicians is waiting in the wings to torpedo the plan.
India had produced women Chief Ministers like Nantini Satpathy, Shiela Dikshit, Vasundhara Raje, Jayalalita and parliamentarian such as Gita Mukherjee, Sushma Shwaraj, Mohsina Kidwai, Margaret Alva to name a few, who had contributed emmensely to Indian politics. Take the case of Mayawati and Rabri Devi, who were catapulted to the position of power through the quota Raj, or through a network of patronage link. Their popularity ratings have not gone beyond the parameter of the castes. People enjoying backward quotas, SC and ST quotas have become more complacent and do not command the same respect as it should have been in an open competition.
The same logic is relevant in case of women reservation. Mamta Banerjee’s stock rose after she humbled Marxist giant, the present Lok Sabha Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee in 1984 parliamentary elections, since than, she is known as a “giant killer”. The defeat of former Chief Minister, Hokishe Sema at the hands of a debutant and women candidate Rano M Shaiza in 1977 parliamentary elections in the post emergency era is of no ordinary significance. Thus, traditional myths of male superiority are been dispelled in the battle of ballots and this appears to be the most honorable way of assertiveness. Women who have the caliber and ability should avail this opportunity to the optimum. It is very likely that if 33 percent or whatever percent is ear marked for the fair sex, political parties may not sponsor women candidate from unreserved seat, depriving capable women to repeat Rano’s and Mamta’s feat. Reservation thus, may turn out to be counter productive for those with caliber and the capacity to deliver.
To me, the first priority and best possible course in respect of women empowerment is not reservation but to safe guard the rights and legal entitlement of women and to change the position of women from inequality to that of equality. Reservation of 33 percent cannot hope to tackle the herculean task of gender inequality. If you look at the national policy for the empowerment of women 2001, it presents a holistic approach and a comprehensive notion of women development and empowerment. It is a truism that India ranks as the country with a maximum amount of social legislation pertaining to women. All this recommendations and legislation should not be left unattended nor should remain as a document of intention. This should be implemented to the letter. Socio-religious practices as purdah, sati, dowry and discrimination continue to be perpetuated against women.
It is also pertinent to mention that significant presence of women alone in the Legislatures would not help ameliorate the status of women. There are many complex reasons behind the low representation of women in the socio-political and economic profile of the country. Policy of Reservation ad hoc as it is will not have much of an impact in the long run. It is only a temporary relief, as a means to clear the backlog, but the aims of achieving complete equality between men and women demands a much broader political, social and economic policy.
Women despite being caught in the web of adverse cultural practices and prejudices in a male dominated social and cultural milieu, the female literacy rate has improved from 7.9 in 1947 to 54.16 percent in 2001. Employment ratio of male and female in urban India is 53.9 percent and 26.3 percent, and in rural areas 50.9 percent and 11.4 percent respectively. If we look at the women’s representation in the Lok Sabha since independence, the 14th Lok Sabha has the largest contingent of women representation with 45 members, which accounts for 9.02 percent. The 6th Lok Sabha had only 19 women MP in the house with as low as 3.29 percent that also includes Rano M. Shaiza, the lone representative from Nagaland.
In the 53 years of Indian parliamentary politics, the percentage of elected women Lok Sabha members had never exceeded 10 percent. So far, the highest number of women contestant was 599 in 1996 parliamentary elections and incidentally, the highest number of male contestant was in the same parliamentary elections, which came to whooping 13,353 to contest for 543 seats.
An analysis of last four elections shows that a woman winning percentage was 6.7 and men only 3.8 percent in 1996. In 1998 it was 15.7 and 11.2. In 1999, 17.3 percent and 12.3 percent and 12.3 and 9.8 respectively in 2004. This is an encouraging indicator given the fact that, the respective political parties generally offer the losing seats to women.
It is important to note that, all elected women (via reservation) in the house would not come as a bloc; they will represent diverse socio-economic background and different political party, which is subject to party whips and discipline. Party whips at times, entails sacrificing your conscience and perception. Reservation also does not guarantee the entry of deserving women to the Legislatures with the capacity to deliver. In all probability, spouses, in-laws, nieces and aunts of the powerful politicians will find a place in the new set up.
(The writer is a Senior Lecturer, Fazl Ali College, Mokokchung)
