Mahadeep Singh Jamwal
The inclusion of all sections of the society in the public sphere is critically important for any democracy. India has a mixed track record when it comes to women’s participation and representation in politics. India stands 20th from the bottom in terms of representation of women in Parliament. India has also produced a number of powerful and consequential women politicians more than most democracies that have held, and still hold power, at the highest levels in state and national politics. Women have held the posts of president and prime minister in India, as well as chief ministers of various states. Indian voters have elected women to numerous state legislative assemblies and national parliament for many decades. In spite of such progress, women’s representation in elected assemblies remains abysmally low. In 1952, women comprised 6% of India’s first Lok Sabha. Sixty two years later, the representation of women in the Lok Sabha reached an all-time high of 12.15%. The situation is worse at the state level, where the average representation ratio of women is only 7.3%. The greatest obstacle women face are the political parties, who refuse to field a fair number of women candidates. It was realized that the only way to address it in the short run was through bold legislation. This created a voice of reservation for women in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. It was really a joyous moment for every sensible citizen of India, when decade long pending demand of politically empowering the woman by way of creating provisions of reservation in lok sabha and assembly seats was dawning in the new building of the Parliament. The moment ‘The Constitution (one hundred and twenty eighth amendment) Bill, 2023 named ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’, to meet a long-pending demand to reserve one-third of seats i.e. 33% reservation in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for women was introduced in the new building of Lok Sabha as first bill marking a history in Indian Parliament, I sketched a beautiful map of Indian politics to be more colorful and attractive now with the greater participation of women in policymaking at the national and state levels who will leave wide impact on Indian electoral politics onwards. But as I moved on from clause to clause of the bill the fog cleared from the pages of the bill, and words of erstwhile US President Abraham Lincoln struck to my mind that ‘You can fool all people some of the time and some people all the time. But you can never fool all people all the time.’ Similar trickery reflected from this bill that apparently was cheering but befooling in nature. After the passage of the Bill by both Houses of Parliament, it will also have to be rectified by at least 50 per cent of state assemblies to become a law. The nod by state assemblies is necessary as it affects the rights of the states which put off its date to around 2029. The reservation of “as nearly as may be, one-third of the total number of seats to be filled by direct election” will come into effect after a delimitation exercise is undertaken. Delimitation exercise involves the redrawing of boundaries of Lok Sabha and state assembly seats to appropriately represent changes in population. These exercises seek to provide equal representation to the various segments of a society. This means that the bill cannot be implemented before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. So we can deduce that it is a political trickery and well-planned move to create chaos and restlessness in the minds of women to attract votes in 2024 elections of this segment of voters. As per existing law, the next delimitation exercise can only be conducted after the first census to be taken post 2026. This effectively means that the bill cannot become a law until at least 2029 or even later. The bill has proposed that the reservation would continue for a period of 15 years and there will be a quota for SC/STs within the reserved seats for women. In this way, out of the seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, 33 percent will be reserved for women. Seats reserved for women will be rotated after each delimitation exercise, according to the bill. The interesting part of this bill is that the quota will not apply to the Rajya Sabha or State Legislative Council as these are the safe houses for backdoor entries in power corridors for those rejected by voters but blue eyed boys of political parties. In a nutshell we can say that it is a political trickery of the Modi Government to attract women voters in 2024 as the women have to wait to get its benefit at least for a decade. This is a Bill that makes women look stupid. A careful reading of the provisions of the Bill reveals so. It is the need of the hour that a true representative democracy seeks adequate representation of women in politics. Women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision making in politics, economics and public life cannot be put on hold for even a day but to talk of decades that the present bill introduced by the Modi Government speaks of. The government seeks maximum participation of women voters by its lucrative schemes for remaining in power but for granting them the authority to decide their own rights; this government brings trickeries in their legislations. I am of the opinion that the Woman Reservation Bill be immediately implemented as there is no logic in putting rider of delimitation exercise as amendments in constitution is a regular exercise and the things proceed in natural course as per need of the hour.
