- If one thoroughly introspects about the way women are still fighting for their rights despite humankind progressing tremendously in the last few decades, we will be forced to conclude that gender parity, equality, unbiased treatment, and a level playing field continue to elude them. Agreed, every responsible leadership representing countries around the globe has made earnest efforts at ushering in gender parity, but societies continue to remain patriarchal, misogynistic, and anachronistic vis-à-vis believing in women’s empowerment in line with the fast-changing times. Unfortunately, women are largely at the mercy of male chauvinism, even though women have shown they are second to none, shouldering responsibility at par with their male counterparts.
PC: India Today
- Has India done anything different towards women’s empowerment vis-à-vis political representation in the last couple of decades? It must be mentioned that nothing much has transpired in action, though so much has been spoken about garnering crucial votes during election times. As reported, the Union Government’s twin objectives for this Parliament session, viz., advance the delimitation exercise deciding the number of representatives in Lok Sabha, and change laws in order to roll out women’s 33% quota by 2029 LS polls, need further analysis. Mind you, for both these to fructify, constitutional laws need to be tweaked. Delimitation must be delinked from the current census. This is imperative. Why so? Let’s dwelve.
PC: Scroll.in
- Women’s quota must be delinked from delimitation, and, perhaps, even be relinked to delimitation, per Census 2011. First, the women’s quota. When the law was passed, its implementation was tied to post-Census 2021/now 2027 delimitation. Even at the time, it wasn’t clear why the women’s quota was linked to delimitation. The spirit of the women’s quota is for male MPs not to feel miffed that they’ll lose out to women. Empowerment is about the sharing of resources equitably. If the GOI is keen to embellish its record of empowering women, the straightforward way would be to enforce the quota within the 543-seat Lok Sabha and in state legislatures, right away. Rotating seats for reservation, every 3rd constituency, is the design sought.
PC: The Hindu
- Delimitation, after Census 2027, is a fraught exercise. For states that had a stabilized population, it meant losing LS seats. Delimitation + women’s quota presented itself as a double whammy for such states. So, for some, delimitation, basis Census 2011, may appear to make sense, going by political tea leaves. If divvied on the outdated data of the Census 2011, Parliament seats are set to go up to 816. Reality is, pushing constitutional amendments for political ends may end up misrepresenting ground reality. Basing delimitation on the Census 2011 disregards India’s massive urban expansion and internal migration in the last 15 years. It also mirrors GOI’s uncertainty about Census 2027’s implementation. Self-enumeration and caste census are just two of the most consequential ones. Quota should be based on the present LS seats. A rethinking is in order.
