- Hindi News
- women
- How clear is the intention of the parties, today elections on 13 seats of Rajya Sabha, only 4 women in the contest
new Delhi7 hours agoWriters: Deepti Mishra
- copy link
The female population in the country has gone up to 1020 per 1000 males. In the recently held assembly election results in five states, the number of women members is significant. On March 31, ie today, only 4 women are in the fray for the 13 seats in the Rajya Sabha. In such a situation, the question emerges that despite the big claims and promises of bringing women into politics, why are their numbers few? Why the Women’s Reservation Bill could not be passed even after almost three decades? Is the intention of the parties not clear regarding this?
Before proceeding further, let us give our opinion on women’s reservation…
The biennial elections for the 13 Rajya Sabha seats are to be held today. Of these, five are in Punjab, three in Kerala, two in Assam and one each in Himachal, Nagaland and Tripura. Women are the only 4 in this match. Congress’s Rani Narhi from one seat in Assam, JB Mather of Congress from one seat in Kerala, Phangnon Konyak of BJP from Nagaland and Communist Party of Jharna Das Vaidya from Tripura.
Women crossed ‘AAP’, yet forgot
In the recently held assembly elections in five states, all parties talked about giving preference to women. Many things were said for women. There was talk of women’s reservation in the manifesto of all the parties, but then the women’s reservation bill could not be passed yet. Talking about the recent assembly elections, 93 women contested in Punjab, out of which 13 won the assembly. Among the winners, the maximum number of 11 women are from the Aam Aadmi Party. Of these, 1 was made a minister. Despite this, AAP did not field a single woman candidate for the five Rajya Sabha seats that fell vacant from Punjab.
Reservation of seats in Parliament or reservation of tickets among parties?
There are two arguments for giving reservation to women. Reservation of seats for women in Parliament and Legislative Assemblies or reservation of parties in giving tickets to women. Both are treated separately and offered as substitutes for each other. Whereas without one the other is not effective. According to Prof. Ashutosh Kumar, Head of the Department of Political Science, Panjab University, the initiative to bring women’s reservation bill to increase the participation of half the country’s population in making laws at the national level was started. A provision was made in this that one-third or 33 percent of the seats in the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies would be reserved for women. However, there is no mention of how many women political parties will have to give tickets in this bill. Despite this, those protesting feel that urban women will come to Parliament and dictate to us. Dalit and backward women will be further left behind.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Women’s Reservation Bill
Benefit: Political expert Ashutosh says that if the Women’s Reservation Bill becomes law, then the full participation of half of the country’s population will be seen while making the law. Issues related to women will be taken up on priority in Parliament. While making laws, women will be given full attention, whereas at present, women are ahead of men in voting, but still they are sidelined while making laws.
Harm: Some people opposing the Women’s Reservation Bill say that after its passage, one-third of the seats in the Assembly and Lok Sabha will be reserved for women only. In such a situation, the people of the political family can take their daughters and daughters-in-law from here, due to which the trend of familyism in politics will increase further.
However, it is not the case that in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections only women will contest and their father or husband will work. A vivid example of this is BJP leader in Uttar Pradesh Assembly Dayashankar Singh and his wife Swati Singh. Swati may have entered politics to save her husband’s politics, but she proved herself and performed her responsibility as a minister in the Yogi government.
What is the logic of 33 per cent ticket in the party?
Political expert Ashutosh says that now parties ignore women faces while giving tickets, when women’s reservation will be implemented, more and more women will be fielded by the parties to fill one-third women seats in the assembly and Lok Sabha. In the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha, if 33 percent reservation is given to women, will the seats be reserved and the seats will remain vacant if women candidates are not available? In response to this, Ashutosh says that no, no party would like to have a lesser majority in the Parliament. So the parties will think of giving more than 33 per cent tickets to women.
History of Women’s Reservation Bill
- In the year 1975, there was a report called Towards Equality, which gave details of the status of women in every field and talked about giving reservation. At that time, most of the members of the committee that prepared the report were against it and women also felt that they would come into politics on their own, not through the path of reservation, but in 10-15 years women felt that every step in politics was hindered. go. They do not get equal opportunities. After this the demand for representation of women in Parliament started.
- In the 1980s, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi tried to get a bill passed for one-third reservation for women in panchayat and local body elections, but the legislatures opposed it.
- The Women’s Reservation Bill was first introduced by the HD Deve Gowda government on September 12, 1996. This non-Congress coalition government was supported by the Congress from outside, while the two main pillars of this government- Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav were opposed to women’s reservation.
- In June 1997, once again there was an attempt to get the bill passed, at that time Loktantrik Janata Dal chief Sharad Yadav had condemned the bill and said that what will the disguised women understand about our women and what they will think.
- On June 26, 1998, the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee introduced the Women’s Reservation Bill as the 84th Constitutional Amendment Bill in the 12th Lok Sabha, but the bill could not pass. Due to this Vajpayee’s government fell and the Lok Sabha was dissolved.
- In May 1999, the NDA government returned to power under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and once again introduced the Women’s Reservation Bill, but this time also did not succeed.
- In 2003, the NDA government tried again, but the MPs created a lot of ruckus during the Question Hour itself.
UPA-2 was passed in Rajya Sabha
In March 2010, during UPA-II, Congress President Sonia Gandhi took the initiative to get this bill passed in the Rajya Sabha. The Manmohan Singh government had hoped that the way the bill has been passed in the Rajya Sabha, it would be passed in the Lok Sabha as well, but it did not happen.
Veteran BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, CPM leader Brinda Karat and other women leaders protesting outside Parliament to get the Women’s Reservation Bill implemented. -File photo When the Women’s Reservation Bill was opposed by saying that it promotes ‘proxy culture’ Sometime the ‘sarpanch husband’ would increase, the fear was shown. 26 years have passed since the first introduction in the Parliament, but why are political parties still unable to unite on giving 33% reservation to women.
Record women MPs in Lok Sabha, the role of regional parties is important
Professor Ashutosh says that at present the number of women in the Lok Sabha is a record 13 percent. However, regional parties have a role to play in this more than the BJP and the Congress. Of course, the Women’s Reservation Bill could not be passed, but Biju Janata Dal and Trinamool Congress fielded women in one-third of the seats while giving election tickets. This time Congress also adopted the same policy in the assembly elections.
Why the government still could not pass the bill in majority?
Political satirist Alok Puranik says that not only the government on the Women’s Reservation Bill, assume that nobody’s intention is clear. Our society is patriarchal. Be it Congress, SP or Akali Dal, the command of most political parties has been in the hands of one family. Politicians consider parties as their heritage and unfortunately in our country the legacy is still passed on to sons and not daughters.
For example, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s relationship with his sister YS Sharmila deteriorated simply because she wanted a share in her father’s political legacy by moving away from her brother’s shadow. Apart from this, there are many leaders including Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, whose sons are active in politics and daughters are not. They say that the BJP has a majority, but there are many leaders within the party who do not want the bill to be passed. In such a situation, the party does not want to upset its leaders.
Alok Puranik says that political parties do not give tickets to advance women. They pretend to prove themselves to be friendly to women. Talking about the BJP, it is true that the party tried, but women leaders in the BJP have come ahead of their potential, they have not been given any reservation or concession. Congress President Sonia Gandhi also gave priority to Rahul Gandhi.
Congress leader Alka Lamba and others protesting for the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill. India ranks 148 out of 193 countries in terms of representation of women in Parliament. At present, there are 81 women MPs in the Lok Sabha. This number is the highest ever in the history of the House. The first Lok Sabha had only 24 women members.
Women MPs raised their voice
From time to time, women MPs have been raising their voices for the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill. These women MPs include late BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, former Communist Party of India MP Brinda Karat, Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi and Congress leader Alka Lamba.