Had there been no reservation of seats for the fair sex in the grassroots democratic institutions, power would have remained a dream for women, particularly from the male dominated feudal belt known as Hyderabad Karnataka region.
Though the mandatory quota for women is 33 per cent, their representation in gram panchayats in the districts of Hyderabad Karnataka region is about 40 per cent. This is because of reservation of not less than one third of the total seats for women under all categories namely General, SC, ST and Backward Class. If there is a single seat reserved, for say ST, in a particular gram panchayat it will invariably go to a woman to meet the legal requirement. Likewise a single seat reserved for a particular category automatically goes in favour of a woman of the respective category and as such women enjoy more representation than their constitutional entitlement.
It may be hard to imagine posts of both president and vice president of a zilla panchayat going to women. Thanks to reservation, it is a reality in Gulbarga ZP where the president belongs to ST, while the vice president to general category.
Woman power has its share in Gulbarga Mahanagara Palike too. For the second successive year, the Palike has seen a woman mayor. Last year the seat was reserved for general woman category and this time it has gone to SC woman.
The representation of women in gram panchayats will further shoot up as chief minister B S Yeddyurappa has made a budgetary promise to enhance reservation for women to 50 per cent. At last the fair sex is getting a fair deal!
In West Bengal, overall empowerment is tardy
The ruling Left Front government in West Bengal, which was quite keen to implement land reforms, has demonstrated matching desire to provide for women’s quota in the elections to local bodies. Barring a few exceptions where female candidates cried off the contest at the last moment owing to various reasons, Bengal has nearly implemented the quota for women.
However, if the women’s quota in these bodies is meant to empower women in the backward areas of the state, Bengal’s record would be mixed. While in some specific cases like Beldanga, Mahishadal, Ghatakpur and Mathurapur where various self-help groups of women have been formed to extend assistance to rural women in self-empowerment, allegations have flown thick and fast on how money meant for disbursement to women under the quota, returned to the Centre without being utilised.
“There has been a pathetic lack of initiative on the part of the government to carry forward the programme to benefit women even though there has been no dearth of effort to mobilise them during the polls to cast vote in favour of a particular party,” observed S Adhikari, a city-based socio-economist, who imparts voluntary lessons to women on rural development.
Adhikari cited another instance where the intention of the government in providing some key assistance to urban poor is good. The government said last month that it would lease out land for free to squatters, whom it described as “the urban poor”.
According to Adhikari, the move is widely seen as part of an orchestrated attempt to shore up support for the Left Front months ahead of 83 civic body elections in the state. As per the announcement, the government would lease out two-three ‘cotahs’ of land for 99 years to people occupying state-owned land for more than 20 years and earning less than Rs 6,000 a month.
This is the first such scheme in India where state authorities have announced this largesse for the urban poor. By leasing out land the state government would enable people to borrow from banks to build homes. You’d never know how women will be benefited or empowered through this scheme, although there is a lot of scope for developing the women socially.
M’rashtra a pioneer, but no woman CM yet It was NCP president Sharad Pawar, who was the first chief minister in the country to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in municipal councils/corporations in Maharashtra state way back in 1993.
Pawar, who has only one daughter - Supriya Sule, now an MP - had pushed the proposal in the teeth of opposition. After supporting the Women’s Reservation Bill in Rajya Sabha, the NCP is now seeking to garner support for 50 per cent quota to women in the state in local bodies.
If numbers are indicative of progress, then the 33 per cent reservation has been largely successful in this State. Reservation appears to have given women an opportunity to prove their capabilities in governance. Yet, Maharashtra has so far been unable to produce a woman chief minister in contrast to many other states such as UP, Orissa, Assam, Delhi, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, which saw women at the helm of their affairs.
(Inputs: Abha Sharma, Jaipur; Abhay Kumar, Patna; Prasanta Paul, Kolkata; Srinivas Sirnoorkar, Gulbarga; Parag Rabade, Mumbai.)