Women Reservations: A Pending Issue

Since ancient times, Indian social structure is predominantly male dominant oriented. Though women are half of the population, they have never been given appropriate opportunities in state administration. Even now, representation of women in state administration is very low. At present, women representation in Lok Sabha is around 11 percent only. It certainly shows the unequal representation in the legislature. In order to increase the representation of women in administration, Government of India provided at least one third of reservations to women in Urban and Rural Local bodies. Further, women reservation bill was prepared to reserve one-third seats of the Lok sabha and state legislative assemblies. As per the bill, women reserved seats allotment will be on a rotational basis, and reservations will cease after 15 years of commencement of Act.


In 1996, Government of India introduced women reservation bill in the parliament, but failed to convert it to an Act. Later several attempts made by successive governments, but they failed to achieve consensus among the political parties. Last year, Ruling party with the support of the major opposition party, women reservation bill was passed in Rajya Sabha. After that, bill was supposed to introduce in Lok Sabha but due to some political strategies of respective parties, bill was not introduced.


Political power is an important element in Women empowerment. Women reservation is a tool to access the political power for women. It will give adequate opportunities to underprivileged women to be part of the government and policy making. At present, in India, the talent pool of politicians is often from men, but women reservation will widen the catchment area. It will enhance the administration abilities of women and in turn the administration itself. For instance, after reservations, significant positive changes were observed in rural and urban local bodies, where women were representing. Many countries are already providing women reservations and registered impressive gains. Women reservations give an opportunity to women to raise their voice on their problems, concerns and demands. In the long term, it will enhance the position of women in our society.


There may be few disputable issues associated with the bill like rotational basis of allotment of seats, creamy layer issue etc. This bill may not be the best or only solution to empowerment of women. However, let not the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Food Security

Few weeks ago, the expert committee on National Food Security Bill headed by Rangarajan submitted its report to Prime Minister. Initially, NFSB was recommended by National Advisory Council (NAC). The government appointed expert committee to review it. Food Security Bill aims at providing food as a basic right of the citizen. It also aims at providing food affordable and to meet the dietary needs of the people. To achieve the aims of food security bill, it adopted food grains on subsidy method. As per the initial draft bill, 90% of the population becomes eligible to get the subsidized food grains. But later it was reduced to 75% of the population, i.e. 90% of rural and 50% of urban population become eligible to get rice, wheat, sugar, etc. at subsidized prices. Below poverty Line (BPL) households should have a monthly entitlement of 35 kgs at Re 1 per kg for millets, Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Rs3 for rice. Above Poverty Line (APL) should get a monthly entitlement of 20 kgs at a price not exceeding 50% of the Minimum Support Prices.

However, Rangarajan committee differs with the NAC recommendation on Food Security and concluded that it may not be feasible to implement the bill in its current form. Three major aspects were the bone of contention, First, production rate and procurement of food grains, as per the report, the food grains required to implement the food security is about 69 million tons but the current expected rate of production will be about 56 million tons. Second, negative impact on market prices and effect on vulnerable sections like middle class families. Third, burden on exchequer and consequences.

Food security is essential for our country to address dietary needs of the population. But, the draft bill deals food security in a narrow view, whereas, it actually has wider scope. Food security has three important elements, food availability, food access and food use. The draft food security bill prominently deals with food access and very little about other two. Food availability includes production, diversifying the food pattern in order to get appropriate nutrient diet, understanding the future needs and planning accordingly, etc. The major concern for India is too much dependency on certain crops and varieties like Rice and wheat, which ultimately resulting in high demand and pressure on those crops. India should plan in such a way that the productions of other food grains like Jowar, Bajra, Finger millet, etc. should be encouraged. Through this not only pressure on the main food grains will decrease, but also helps to increase the nutritional levels of population. Food use, it includes using food resources of the country in a sustainable and optimum manner. For example, India has about 7000 kilometers coastal line, but still, sea food in Indian diet is negligible. Food access means not only providing food grains for subsidised prices but also to meet the consumption demands of the population. Subsidised food is short term strategy; policy makers should also concentrate on long term strategies to meet the consumption demands.

I think, Rangarajan committee has rightly recommended that subsidized food grains shall be given to only BPL families (46% rural and 28% urban population) instead of 75% of the population. However, subsidised food grains and proper distribution alone are not food security. Food security is about production and availability of food grains according to the needs of population. It is unfortunate that Indian think tank is more concerned about populist policies than policies for India.

Parliament Logjam

Recently, Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) became the focal point in the parliament sessions. The issue started with Opposition parties demanding for JPC probe in 2G spectrum allocation, which led to loss of Rs. 1.76 crores to Government(as per CAG report). However, Government insists that JPC probe is not necessary, since PAC (Public Accounts Committee) is looking into the matter. These different stands resulted in 23-day parliament logjam.

PAC was established in 1921 by British rulers, which subsequently continued after independence. PAC consists of 22 members (15 from Lower House and 7 from Upper House). The members are elected by the Parliament every year from amongst its members according to the principle of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. The function of Committee is to examine the annual audit reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) which are laid before the Parliament by the President. In this function, Committee is assisted by the CAG.

Joint Parliamentary Committee is an ad hoc committee, which is constituted to probe into a specific subject. It consists of members from both houses. The JPC can take oral and written evidence or call for documents in connection with a matter under its consideration. Generally, the proceedings of parliamentary committees are confidential but in case of JPC, it can brief the proceedings to press, considering the 'widespread public interest' in the matter. Until now, four JPC's were constituted. Though, PAC and JPC, both functions are almost similar, the reason for Opposition parties demanding for JPC probe into 2G spectrum matter is to keep the heat on government through continuous reporting of proceedings. However, the Government doesn't want to constitute JPC because new problems will come every time when JPC briefs the press.

The stubborn attitude of Government and Opposition in their respective stances resulted in wastage of Rs171 crores. Interestingly, more than to find out the truth in the 2G spectrum scam, opposition parties are playing political games in order to have the cream out of it. Opposition demanding for JPC is a good move but interrupting the sessions regularly and not discussing other crucial issues in the parliament is not good for parliamentary system. Opposition must have used other methods to pressurize the Government, instead of wasting the precious time of parliament. Government also not acted in a responsible manner when whole winter sessions were completed without opposition parties in both the houses. There should not be any excuse to constitute a JPC, if the Government (especially ministers) is not done any irregularities in 2G spectrum allocations.

By this kind of parliamentary logjam, both the sides i.e. Government and Oppositions are safe for now and the loser is the citizen of India.