The election countdown has begun for the 15th Lok Sabha seats across the India. Once again the political heroes are all set with their luring speeches and once again the political parties are coming with the claims to uplift the conditions of most marginalized communities, welfare schemes for children, a peaceful environment for minorities and a just and equitable society for women. Once again the issue of Women Reservation in legislation is one of the hot topics of discussion among the political parties. At the time of elections there is always enough support for the reservation bill, but this is quickly lost when it comes to actually enacting the law. The effort to make the amendments through 'consensus' is also a charade.

The idea of making a legal provision of reserving seats for women in Parliament & State Assemblies came into existence during Rajeev Gandhi’s tenure as the Prime Minister of India when the Panchayati Raj Act, 1992 (73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment) came into effect granting 33% reservation to women in the Panchayati Raj Institutions or local bodies. The Bill was first drafted by the H.D. Devegowda led United Front Government in 1996 and the present shape and form of the Bill was proposed by I.K. Gujral when he was the Prime Minister of India. Since then the Bill is introduced in Parliament but every time the bill could not be passed. It is interesting that most of the major parties voice their complete support for women's reservation but even then the situation so emerges that the bill has to be shelved in every Parliament meetings.

Both men and women are equal citizens in the eyes of the law. But this is far from the reality. India ranks 103rd in terms of gender development index. The patriarchal society not only harbors a culture of violence against women in the form of dowry, domestic violence and female infanticide, it also manifests even in government policies towards women. The Indian government, devoid of any significant women's representation, has been grossly negligent of issues related with the 50% of their population. It took 58 years post independence for India to pass an acceptable bill recognizing domestic violence which affects over 40% of its women.

The late Gita Mukherjee, CPI-M member and MP from West Bengal, who headed the special parliamentary committee on the Reservations Bill, constantly asserted that the first step was to allow women to break into politics. Their awareness would automatically rise as a consequence. Securing 33% reservation for women is a step of opening the doors of opportunity for political empowerment to almost 50% of our population. It will not only serve the cause of democracy as the Panchayati Raj Institutions are doing at the grassroots level but will also go a long way in ensuring political equality through active participation of woman from both urban and rural areas. The Panchayati Raj institutions are prime examples of this. Giving women the reins of power at the panchayat level has proven that women are capable of governance and these women are setting milestones in the role of Sarpanch.

In Madhya Pradesh also, the women reservation act was regulated giving 33 % reservation to tribal women of the State in local governance.   This was not all that easy. When the Bill providing 33 % reservation for women was approved most of the men were of opinion that women that’s too illiterate and tribal women can not take the responsibilities of regulating administration. But because the Bill was passed there was no other option instead of nominating women candidates in Panchayat elections. Here again the male dominated society played the trick and in most villages wives of ex-sarpanch (male) were made to contest for the elections. Then these women were used merely as rubber stamps by their husbands although there were some exceptions also. But slowly and gradually the picture is changing. In many cases the illiterate, tribal and dalit women are emerging as role models also. There are an umpteen number of women Sarpanch across the State setting the examples that a woman in spite of being illiterate and from a tribal background, who has never, came out of her veil and her responsibility of a homemaker can handle the administration of Panchayat successfully.

Seeing the success of women representatives the State has approved the 50% women reservation quota in Panchayati Raj Institutions. Now, it’s the turn of Lok Sabha that it should also realize the caliber of women and should approve the women reservation bill. Though there are some women faces in the Parliament and State Assemblies but these women are from social-political backgrounds and moreover their number is very limited. Less than 10% of the directly elected national representatives - 45 members of the Lok Sabha's 542, - are women. Even in the Rajya Sabha, only 28 of 242 seats are held by women. This shows that if there is no reservation, no political party will give space to women. So there’s an urgent need of the reservation for women in Parliamentary and State Assembly elections. This will give a chance to women to prove themselves as in Panchayats.

Smriti