Scrutinising the Sea of Shackles
Ananya H, reporting from the Lok Sabha, delineates an integral thread of discussions and deliberations that took place in the committee.
Like how a tiny stone thrown into water sets off multiple ripples, an appropriate motion can lay down the floor for quality debate. Talking about the elephantine importance of the women’s reservation bill, accusations kept rising from every corner of the room. Kalyan Banerjee brought them to a standstill by urging the Lok Sabha to discuss feasible measures that can be incorporated into the status quo to improve the participation of women in politics. He sought to discuss the kind of mechanisms that can be implemented to make sure that their voices are heard.
Understanding problems right from the grassroot levels is an inevitable start to even think of solutions. Adhering to the same, Kaushalendra Kumar shed light on the social evils that still prevail in many parts of the country. He felt that wherever women do not have the privilege to step out freely and take their own decisions, getting them involved in politics is an arduous task. The ministers agreed that breaking that shackle would be the first step towards inclusivity. When Kalyan Banerjee stated that India has had only one female Prime Minister and one female President till date, Krishna Raj took lead from that to elaborate on how politics has always been portrayed as a non-feminine domain. This factor majorly weighs down the progress in the rural and semi-urban areas. Further discussions zeroed into the the paradox associated with the issue—the fact that there are less women representatives in the house itself leads to a decline in the number of women stepping up to take the challenge.
Lal Krishna Advani enunciated that there needs to be an apt mentorship system to make sure that women who are going to enter the political area for the first time are enlightened with the government functioning, at least until their intended level of participation. Agreeing with the stance, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat felt that capacity-building programs should be implemented at all levels. With further ideas for spreading awareness and training schemes coming to light, the committee finally witnessed a ray of positivity regarding the implementation of the bill.
(Edited by Harsha Sista.)
‘Beti Padhao’ or ‘Reservation Lao’?
Vaibhav Joshi, reporting from the Lok Sabha, narrates the dialogue between two starkly different approaches that the Members of the Parliament are presenting, to increase the participation of women in Lok Sabha
"A house divided against itself cannot stand."
- Abraham Lincoln
Similar is the predicament that the Lok Sabha finds itself in, in its second session, where the house seems to be losing grasp of the agenda with every passing speech. Getting the Women Reservation Bill passed in Lok Sabha was on the manifesto of the Ruling Party in 2014 and the opposition too has been unequivocal on it. With the Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Indian National Congress (INC) firmly holding their stance of a top-down approach, making the bill pass without further ado, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is adamant on choosing an education-based bottom-up approach.
BJP MP Krishna Raj (Raj), went on to elaborate her party’s stance by stressing on the hindrances caused in stratifying the participation of women in politics due to severe opposition faced by their families due to lack of awareness, or just pure prejudice. Another BJP MP, Hari Babu Kambhampati, supported Raj’s statement by stressing on employing an education-based approach pertaining to the grass-root level politics and small urban bodies.
“It is important to give women an early exposure to politics”, said INC MP Kamal Nath, while addressing the house. His words were seen resonating with most of the members of the opposition parties as almost all of them have been vociferous in their support for passing the bill in Lok Sabha. The only representative from BJP to support the immediate introduction of the bill was Anoop Mishra, who drew instances from the success of reservation for women in the Gram Panchayats that allowed Muslim women to become an integral part of politics.
The ruling party is yet to re-introduce its own version of the bill to the house, but considering the huge divide within parties, reaching a consensus seems far-fetched.
(Edited by Harsha Sista.)
- Abraham Lincoln
Similar is the predicament that the Lok Sabha finds itself in, in its second session, where the house seems to be losing grasp of the agenda with every passing speech. Getting the Women Reservation Bill passed in Lok Sabha was on the manifesto of the Ruling Party in 2014 and the opposition too has been unequivocal on it. With the Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Indian National Congress (INC) firmly holding their stance of a top-down approach, making the bill pass without further ado, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is adamant on choosing an education-based bottom-up approach.
BJP MP Krishna Raj (Raj), went on to elaborate her party’s stance by stressing on the hindrances caused in stratifying the participation of women in politics due to severe opposition faced by their families due to lack of awareness, or just pure prejudice. Another BJP MP, Hari Babu Kambhampati, supported Raj’s statement by stressing on employing an education-based approach pertaining to the grass-root level politics and small urban bodies.
“It is important to give women an early exposure to politics”, said INC MP Kamal Nath, while addressing the house. His words were seen resonating with most of the members of the opposition parties as almost all of them have been vociferous in their support for passing the bill in Lok Sabha. The only representative from BJP to support the immediate introduction of the bill was Anoop Mishra, who drew instances from the success of reservation for women in the Gram Panchayats that allowed Muslim women to become an integral part of politics.
The ruling party is yet to re-introduce its own version of the bill to the house, but considering the huge divide within parties, reaching a consensus seems far-fetched.
(Edited by Harsha Sista.)
And The Bill Came Tumbling After
After a conscientious round of contemplation, representatives of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tabled the amended version of the Women’s reservation bill for discussion. Ananya Haraprasad, reporting from the Lok Sabha, tracks down the proceedings of the same.
The Women’s reservation bill or the Constitution (108th Amendment) bill was subjected to meticulous scrutiny to make sure that it fit in to the current State scenario. Narendra Modi, the honourable Prime Minister (PM) of India and Arun Jaitley, the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs put forth their suggestions in a bill to further amend the Women’s reservation bill. This stirred up a plethora of questions in the committee, which the aforementioned duo continued to defend.
When concerns were raised about the inclusivity of women belonging to the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in the reservation, the PM stressed upon the fact that the Lok Sabha does not have a particular reservation for the OBCs. He mentioned that he was all game for including them as a subset of the existing reservation, if the committee agrees to deliberate on the same. Following the footsteps of Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar’s way of reviewing the reservation bill, the PM emphasised on a part of the amendment bill which aimed to have a discussion once every 15 years to review the progress and trace the relevance.
Furthermore, the ministers felt that proxy representation is a persistent problem that needs to have comprehensive solutions. Also addressing the fact that a major chunk of women representatives in the assembly are from elite backgrounds, the BJP representatives explained that the “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” is a campaign that aims to solve this problem. Holding it up as a mechanism to provide education and awareness right from the grassroot levels, the government defended that it takes all aspects of society into consideration.
The wild version of cricket that was being played witnessed its share of boundaries and wickets. With some suggestions on the techniques taken into consideration and the rest under contemplation, the committee proceeded to refine the bill.
(Edited by Harsha Sista.)
When concerns were raised about the inclusivity of women belonging to the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in the reservation, the PM stressed upon the fact that the Lok Sabha does not have a particular reservation for the OBCs. He mentioned that he was all game for including them as a subset of the existing reservation, if the committee agrees to deliberate on the same. Following the footsteps of Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar’s way of reviewing the reservation bill, the PM emphasised on a part of the amendment bill which aimed to have a discussion once every 15 years to review the progress and trace the relevance.
Furthermore, the ministers felt that proxy representation is a persistent problem that needs to have comprehensive solutions. Also addressing the fact that a major chunk of women representatives in the assembly are from elite backgrounds, the BJP representatives explained that the “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” is a campaign that aims to solve this problem. Holding it up as a mechanism to provide education and awareness right from the grassroot levels, the government defended that it takes all aspects of society into consideration.
The wild version of cricket that was being played witnessed its share of boundaries and wickets. With some suggestions on the techniques taken into consideration and the rest under contemplation, the committee proceeded to refine the bill.
(Edited by Harsha Sista.)
The Reserved, The Deserved and The Neglected
Vaibhav Joshi, reporting from the Lok Sabha, recounts the introduction of the Women Reservation Bill and narrates the backlash faced by the presenters: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
“It’s a well-known fact that reality does have a liberal bias”
- Stephen Colbert
The introduction of the new Women Reservation Bill observed a mixed reception when introduced in the Sixth Session of the Lok Sabha, with the Members of Parliament (MPs) half-convinced and half-confused about the changes that were made to the original bill (that lapsed in 2014) by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Ruckus was spontaneous as P. Karunakaran from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)), raised a question pertaining to the incorporation of the third gender into the bill. While the BJP has always kept mum whenever the issue of LGBTQ+ rights has come to light, the CPI(M) has gone as far as being the only party to have spoken with absolute clarity on making changes to the law for the betterment of the LGBTQ+ community and having it on their 2014 election manifesto.
In spite of LGBTQ+ Marriage Equality being one of the key areas of focus for the Lok Sabha, in light of the fact that the bill being presented is originating on the basis of difference in opportunities given to different genders, representation of the LGBTQ+ community in politics has become imperative. The discussion on this sub-agenda was short lived, with both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley failing to explain the reason behind the exclusion of the third gender from their version of the bill. It came down to the amendments that were to be presented in the committee in its next session to see any such inclusion.
The Lok Sabha is heavily inclined towards passing the bill after due modification and it would be witnessing democracy in its purest form, if the ruling party respects and incorporates the amendments presented to them by a majority of the opposition without challenging them. If the LGBTQ+ involvement is found absent in the final draft of the Women Reservation Bill, it would be a great act of injustice towards not just the people who have been pushing this bill through the parliament ever since 1996, but more importantly, to this newly recognized section of society.
(Edited by Harsha Sista.)
- Stephen Colbert
The introduction of the new Women Reservation Bill observed a mixed reception when introduced in the Sixth Session of the Lok Sabha, with the Members of Parliament (MPs) half-convinced and half-confused about the changes that were made to the original bill (that lapsed in 2014) by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Ruckus was spontaneous as P. Karunakaran from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)), raised a question pertaining to the incorporation of the third gender into the bill. While the BJP has always kept mum whenever the issue of LGBTQ+ rights has come to light, the CPI(M) has gone as far as being the only party to have spoken with absolute clarity on making changes to the law for the betterment of the LGBTQ+ community and having it on their 2014 election manifesto.
In spite of LGBTQ+ Marriage Equality being one of the key areas of focus for the Lok Sabha, in light of the fact that the bill being presented is originating on the basis of difference in opportunities given to different genders, representation of the LGBTQ+ community in politics has become imperative. The discussion on this sub-agenda was short lived, with both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley failing to explain the reason behind the exclusion of the third gender from their version of the bill. It came down to the amendments that were to be presented in the committee in its next session to see any such inclusion.
The Lok Sabha is heavily inclined towards passing the bill after due modification and it would be witnessing democracy in its purest form, if the ruling party respects and incorporates the amendments presented to them by a majority of the opposition without challenging them. If the LGBTQ+ involvement is found absent in the final draft of the Women Reservation Bill, it would be a great act of injustice towards not just the people who have been pushing this bill through the parliament ever since 1996, but more importantly, to this newly recognized section of society.
(Edited by Harsha Sista.)
Black, White and Everything in Between
Ananya Haraprasad, reporting from the Lok Sabha, poses a pertinent question to the committee and analyses the flux of opinions.
Starting out as an extensively discussed provision in the committee, the Women’s reservation bill remained the focal point of scrutiny. Understanding the weightage of the same, the reporter questioned their ministers about the feasibility of the alternative women’s reservation bill, which aimed to reserve tickets within the party itself.
Understanding the implications of the same, a major chunk of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Congress (INC) raised a discordant opinion and chose to stick with the conventional format of reservation. Though most of their alliances sided with them, a majority from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chose not to come out of the grey area and abstained from commenting. Amidst the sea of aforementioned opinions, a tiny bloc emerged out of the BJP which affirmed that the alternative reservation bill would be a viable option in the status quo.
As is evident from the stances, despite the tiny ray of rope, the alternative reservation might not have the opportunity to witness the light of day anytime soon.
(Edited by Harsha Sista.)
Understanding the implications of the same, a major chunk of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Congress (INC) raised a discordant opinion and chose to stick with the conventional format of reservation. Though most of their alliances sided with them, a majority from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chose not to come out of the grey area and abstained from commenting. Amidst the sea of aforementioned opinions, a tiny bloc emerged out of the BJP which affirmed that the alternative reservation bill would be a viable option in the status quo.
As is evident from the stances, despite the tiny ray of rope, the alternative reservation might not have the opportunity to witness the light of day anytime soon.
(Edited by Harsha Sista.)
Kill Bill?
Vaibhav Joshi, reporting from the Lok Sabha, extrapolates the opinion of the Parliament on the introduction of a Transgender Reservation Bill similar to the Women Reservation Bill.
With the representatives of CPI(M) and some members of the Congress coming in support to introduce the bill in the Parliament, none of the members of the ruling party supported the said agenda. With majority of the house uncertain on the introduction of the Bill, the future of the transgender community in politics appears to be miles away.
With a constant change in ruling parties in the states, all having different ideologies when it comes to the rights given to the transgender community, the Lower House of the Parliament appears to be in a dire need of the youth getting involved in the dialogue, for they could contribute to the discussion with a much more flexible mindset, contrary to the rigid ideologies adopted by veteran politicians.
(Edited by Harsha Sista.)
With a constant change in ruling parties in the states, all having different ideologies when it comes to the rights given to the transgender community, the Lower House of the Parliament appears to be in a dire need of the youth getting involved in the dialogue, for they could contribute to the discussion with a much more flexible mindset, contrary to the rigid ideologies adopted by veteran politicians.
(Edited by Harsha Sista.)