33% women reservation: From the Viewpoint of an Analyst!

The Indian parliament is on the verge of passing a landmark bill which would reserve 33% seats for women at each level of legislative decision making, starting with the Lok Sabha, down to state and local legislatures. The proponents of the bill say that more participation of the women at the top will lead to women empowerment, help them to fight against abuse, discriminations and inequality they face. While the opponents of the bill say that this bill will not, in any way, help the women of the lower strata of the society, as only the women from the high society will be benefitted. As far as my stand on this topic is concerned, I’m very much for women empowerment, but only if it’s done with a good motive and the steps are not politically motivated.

Now coming to the question: Do we really require women reservation in the parliament? Let’s try to answer this question keeping just Lok Sabha or the Lower House in mind. Statistics show that till 14th Lok Sabha, i.e. till UPA-I government, the number of women in the House of Commons never crossed 10% of the total seats. It was for the first time in 2009 general elections that the number of women in Lok Sabha crossed this mark; it’s 10.82% to be more precise.

There could be two reasons for this. First, women are not given enough opportunities to contest elections, and that is the reason behind less representation. Second, women are given a chance but they don’t win the elections. FYI, there were only 45 women who contested the 1957 general elections. This number touched a high of 599 in 1996 and stood at 556 in 2009. The trend shows that this figure rose consistently between 1957 and 1996. But there was a sharp dip in 1998 elections, but then the number rose again uniformly. To give a better picture, in 1957 elections, only 2.96% of the contestants were women and in 2009, this figure was 6.89%. Though this figure has been constantly increasing, it’s still pretty low. Now, let’s see how many of these women who contested the elections were victorious. Interestingly, this number has fallen down continuously since 1957. It has come down from 48.89% success rate in 1957 to 6.68% in 1996 and stood at 10.61% in 2009. So, out of 556 women who got tickets in 2009, only 59 were elected from their constituencies.

Till now, we’ve seen only India specific data. Now, let’s have a look at what is happening in the world politics. Rwanda is the only country in the world with more women in the parliament than men. 56.3% of Rwanda MPs are women, followed by Sweden with 46.4%. Keeping the 33.3% mark in mind, which India wants to impose, it is interesting to note that only 17 countries in the world have those many women in their current parliaments. The big names among these 17 countries include South Africa, Cuba, Netherlands, Finland, Argentina, Spain and New Zealand. Nepal (33.2%) and Germany (32.8%) stand very close to this mark. The average of G-7 nations stands at 20.4% and that of G-20 at 19.3%. All these numbers are pretty far away from 33.3%. Ain’t they?

These statistics raise many questions in mind. How did India arrive at 33.3% mark? Would it do any good to the nation to jump from 10.82% to 33.3% in one leap?? We know that women empowerment is very important, but is reservation the only way? Will this reservation kill the chances of some more deserving candidates? All in all, how fair is this reservation? And does India need 33.3% women reservation (focusing more on the numbers than the words)?

Hindustani Naam Hamaara Hai

One of my colleagues came to me in the office today and asked if I had the songs of Roja. I obviously didn’t have them as I never thought those songs would be great. I told him that I can download it for him. When I saw the list of songs in that movie, I was shocked to see that those were few of my favorite songs and I never knew they were from this movie. So, when I gave the songs to him, I made sure that I also copy them in my pen drive so that when I go home, the first thing I do is to listen to those lovely songs. The 1st song in the list was a patriotic one, which I must have surely heard almost hundreds of times while in school, either on the Independence Day or the Republic Day celebrations. {Those were the only 2 days in the year when we used to listen to patriotic songs and speeches about love for the “Maatrabhoomi” (motherland)}. But when I heard this song today, its meaning seemed to be so different. Though this was written in early 1990’s, its message sounded so contemporary. So, I thought I should try to understand each and every line of this lovely song and see how relevant it is in today’s India. Here’s what I felt about this song.

“Bharat Humko Jaan Se Pyaara Hai, Sabse Nyaara Gulistaan Hamaara Hai”
I believe this feeling should be there in every Indian’s heart. But, unfortunately, this is not the case. I personally know a few people who consider some Middle East nation better than India, leave alone India’s comparison with the developed western world. Practically speaking, India is the “Sabse Nyaara Gulistaan” in the world. It has people following so many religions, customs and beliefs, that it’s like a “garden with many flowers”, which is the literal meaning of “Gulistaan”.

“Sadiyon se Bharat Bhoomi Duniya Ki Shaan Hai, Bharatmaa Ki Raksha Mein Jeevan Qurbaan Hai, Bharat Humko Jaan Se Pyaara Hai...”
India has made a lot of contribution in the progress of the world. Even though I’m not very good at history, I know that the first university in the world – “Takshila” was established in India, it was an Indian who discovered “0”, the value of pi was calculated here in this country, till 1896, India was the only source of diamonds to the world, and the most recent example, India has been a leader in pulling the world out of recession. This is why, “Sadiyon se Bharat Bhoomi Duniya ki shaan hai”. Many brave men and women have laid down their lives to protect this nation. Even today, so many youngsters dream of getting into the army. Though I didn’t go to the army, I salute those, who are serving the nation, with great respect.

“Ujde Nahin Apna Chaman Toote Nahi Apna Watan, Gumraah Na Kar De Koi, Barbaad Na Kar De Koi. Mandir Yahaan Masjid Yahaan Hindu Yahaan Muslim Yahaan, Milte Rahe Hum Pyaar Se. Jaago...”
This verse has been sung with great vigor and passion in the song, as if asking the whole nation to react to what’s happening around. And this is the first time during the song when one realizes that these words were written specially for this era, year 2009-10, as if the lyricist knew what would happen in the time to come. States are being divided forcefully, people are being misled to believe that the city belongs only to the natives and not their countrymen, country is being divided into pieces for petty politics, people being commented upon on the basis of their castes (SRK being asked to consider going to Pak), and what not. Is this the India for whose independence our ancestors sacrificed everything? The last word of the verse says: Jaago… Wake up.. Or else, yeh chaman ujad jayega or yeh watan toot jayega.

“Hindustani Naam Hamaara Hai, Sabse Pyaara Desh Hamaara Hai;
Janmabhoomi Hai Hamaari Shaanse Kahenge Hum, Sab Hi To Bhai Bhai Pyaar Se Rahenge Hum; Hindustani Naam Hamaara Hai,Bharat Humko Jaan Se Pyaara Hai...” Yes, we’re first Indians and then northees or southees, Gujaratis or Punjabis, Sindhis or Marwadis. We were born in India, and not in a particular state or town. We should take pride in saying that we’re Indians, rather than saying we’re Bihari or Marathi. We all are brothers, born to the same mother: India. We should not fall to the divisive strategies of some self-interested men, and prefer being called Hindustani, rather than by any other noun.

“Assam se Gujarat Tak Bengal se Maharashtra Tak, Jaati Kai Dhun Ek Hai Bhaasha Kai Sur Ek Hai; Kashmir se Madras Tak Keh Do Sabhi Hum Ek Hain, Aawaz Do Hum Ek Hain Jaago...”
28 states and 7 union territories. An area spread over more than 3 million square kilometers. A haven to about 1/6th of the world’s population. A country of such large diversity. Still, there’s love and compassion for each other. But, in current scenario, this statement doesn’t seem to be true. People are fighting everywhere in the country, some on the basis of religion, others on the basis of region. I’ve witnessed both the types of fights in my short life of 21 years. There were riots in my hometown between Hindus and Muslims. And I’ve witnessed the unrest among citizens on the basis of region. We are now divided on the basis of our religions and our language. Nowadays, a Madrasi is afraid of going to Kashmir and a Bihari is being beaten up in Mumbai.

I would again ask, is this the India our forefathers dreamt of? It’s high time we woke up. We should come together and stand united. This is the same country where the names of Ram and Rahim are taken in the same breath. This is the land where Krishna and Moinuddin Chisti had lived. This is the nation where a great saint lived in Shirdi, who never knew his own religion and served all men, irrespective of their caste, creed or color. Let’s wake up and not discriminate among ourselves. Let’s be Indians, rather than being called as a “bhaiya” or “manoos”. We need to understand that if a political party believes that when it comes to the army, they are “Indians” but when it comes to the aam aadmi, they should be divided on the basis of their states, then this party is just indulging into vote bank politics and nothing else .

If we all believe that this is true, then let’s sing together:
“Hindustani Naam Hamaara Hai, Sabse Pyaara Desh Hamaara Hai”

Dear Mr. Blog

Dear Mr. Blog,

Well, after my exams got over (FMS 2010 was my last one of the season), I thought I should again make contact with all my friends, with whom I could not keep in touch because of exams. Since Sunday, I’ve spoken to almost all my friends. You are the only one left, so here I’m, back to you, with some more of my wonderful experiences.

When my exams were going on, I thought the best stress-buster would be some activity which gives peace of mind as well as teaches you something. Yes, even in your free time, you have to do something productive. As someone rightly said, Life is a Race, you have to keep running. If you falter, someone will overtake you and you’ll be left behind. I kept racking my brains to find out such an activity which could solve both the purposes, but could not think of any. Eventually, I thought I would watch some movie. But which movie, that was a billion dollar question (due to inflation, million dollar has become billion).

And this question gave me the answer to my first question. India is the country producing the maximum number of movies in the world every year. Some of them make you laugh while some make you cry, some are romantic, and others are action. So, in such a situation when you are spoilt for choices, which movie should you watch when you want to relax as well as you want to learn also. Those obviously have to be the best movies ever made in this country, and probably (read “definitely”) abroad also. Since I’m not a good movie critic, I thought I should follow what other critics have observed. So I decided to pick up those movies which have been praised, acclaimed and (in a few cases) rewarded also. Yes, those movies which have been nominated for the Oscars or have won the Academy Awards (I know Oscars and Academy are the same). Till now, I’ve watched 3 such movies and the 4th one is being downloaded (yeah, I do download a lot of movies these days). I’ve watched Gandhi (already told you about that), Mother India (an amazing movie) and 3 Idiots. Hmmm…. You must be thinking that it has just released, so I must gone mad that I’ve mentioned it in this list. Well, I can very well predict that this movie will be nominated for Oscars, n if I were in the jury, I would make sure that it wins also. The one being downloaded is Shahrukh starrer Paheli, nominated in 2005. I watched Sholay also but was shocked to know that it was never nominated.

After watching these movies, I’ve decided I’ll (try to) watch all those Indian movies (if they are in Hindi, or else Marathi will also do) which had been nominated for Oscars. I’m pretty sure these movies will be sensible enough and also a lot entertaining. So this is my new year’s resolution [1024*768].

Well, it’s time to go now. Will get back to you soon and tell you about my experiences with Mother India and her 3 Idiots. And I'll also tell you about the source of some dialogues in this letter (though many people surely know it). Till den, God bless all!!!

Yours……..