Shiv Kumar Padha
19 September 2023 will be considered as red letter day in the history of Independent India when the NDA 2 government, under the able premiership of Sh. Narender Modi, rewrote the history by shifting the business of the parliament from the old building, inaugurated by Lord Irwin on Jan 18 1927 to the new one. The old Sansad Bhavan will be known as Sambidhan Sadan and enjoy the country’s hollowed legislature, a privilege which it enjoyed for over 96 years. This memorable day was also marked by the introduction of the long awaited 128th constitutional Amendment bill known as Nari Shakti Vandan Adhineyam introduced by Sh. Arjun Ram Meghwal Union minister for law and justice This bill proposes reservation of one third of seats in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies for women, reviving a bill which has seen nearly three decades of stalling and discord over lack of consensus among the parties.
On the introduction of this bill, prime Minister Narender Modi said, the bill will ensure the participation of the women in policy making at the state and national level. According to him this will help a great deal making India a developed country by 2047. The bill proposes15 year reservation period with quotas for SC and ST. The bill once implemented the number of women members in th Lok sabha will increase from 82 to 181. Going back the percentage of the women during 1952 – 1954 there were only 4.4 percent women in the parliament which went up to 14.94 and 14.05 in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively by Dec. 2022.
At present, out of 543 parliament seats 84 are reserved for SCs and 47 for the STs while 412 are left un reserved. After the proposed modifications one third of the seats out of the SC and ST quotas 28 out of 84 and 16 out of 47 will be reserved for the SC and ST women respectively. 137 seats out of 412 will be reserved for the general category women whereas 275 seats will be left un reserved. According to the provisions in the bill the modification will come into effect after the decades delimitations reports are available. Moreover there is also a provision of rotation of seats after every delimitation. Till the conclusion of the article The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam for the empowerment of the women, after two days discussion was passed with the overwhelming majority in both houses of the house of parliament. The bill was hailed widely by the entire nation in general and the women ilk in particular because of its farsighted results in the Indian politics.
India is unique in many ways by dint of its being the country of younger generation in the world where the women constitute 50 percent of its total population, where 50 percent of the population is below the age of 25 and 65 percent below the age of 35. In order to keep the nation on the rout of progress and prosperity there is a great need of taking all these groups along in the interest of the multidimensional development of the country. No country, on the globe can ever think of its development without the co operation and participation of the women and the youth of the country. The countrymen are the eye witnesses who have been keenly watching the backgrounds, of their hon’ble women legislators in different states and parliamentarians since independence. The women, irrespective of the category they belonged to, have been adorning the country’s state assemblies as legislators, parliamentarians, union and state ministers and the presidents of the country since independence. Owing to the escalating cost( dozens of crores) of contesting elections the politics has become a prerogative of the elite class of the society, of the persons coming from the powerful and influential political clan, of the creamy layer of SCs, STs and the so called Dalits of the country who have been taking away what the constitution of India has guaranteed to them since the holy constitution was adapted by the republic of India. Almost 99 percent of the women legislators and the parliamentarians come from the rich political backgrounds, from the economically rich society, big business houses, from the bolly wood and players. Hardly there is any case where a deserving, well educated, poor landless woman living in a hay roofed house has either been given candidature or has dared contesting the elections costing multimillions in the present age. Thinking about contesting an election, by a poor helpless women from SC , ST and general category is like catching the larks in the sky.
Before implementing the women reservation bill honestly and without being biased a road map needs be prepared so that the targeted groups from the general as well as from SC and ST categories are benefitted in the long run. For the convenience of identifying the women for parliament and the state assemblies under the proposed quota for the women there is a need of defining who is deserving SC, ST and dalit to be considered for the parliament and the state assemblies. While implementing the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam bill 20 23 the care must be taken to identify the deserving, capable women from the general and the SC ,ST Categories who do not come from the elite class of society, from powerful and influential political background, from the privileged and creamy layers of the category, or from the big business houses and the bureaucratic ilk. The governments, in order to pave the way for the targeted categories, must bear the cost of the elections so that these categories’ do not fall in the trap of the crafty politicians.
It is the apprehension of every awakened and enlightened citizen of the country that in the absence of the roadmap and the criteria for the eligibility under the Adhiniyam the political tycoons, the bureaucrats and the big business houses will finance the poor women and send them to the state assemblies and parliament as their puppets who, instead of becoming the voice of their voters will watch and safeguard the interests of their political financiers. This will prove most deprimental for the functioning and survival of the Indian democracy in future.
(The writer is a social activist from Basohli).
