Women resrvation bill : Arun Jaitley speech in Rajya sabha

[admin]

Dear Forum,

The historic Women reservation bill has just been passed in the Rajya sabha. To help you understand BJP's perspective, I give below some salient points from the statement by Sri Arun Jaitley in the Rajya sabha. - Moderator
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BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY

Brief talking points made by Shri Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha) while speaking on the Constitution amendment providing for reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Legislatures

For those present in the House, it is a matter of great privilege that they are a party to history in the making. We are all discharging a historic responsibility in becoming instruments of enacting one of the most progressive legislations in recent Indian history. We are rewriting gender history.

The rationale

The rationale behind women’s reservation in Lok Sabha and State legislatures is laudable. The myth is that reservations create a privileged section. The truth is that nature created all of us as equals, the Constitution also provided equality. However, aberrations in the society translated some equals into unequal.

Reservation, therefore, is an affirmative action, which is intended to wash away the reality of unequality and translate it into a vision of equality. Those who have been made unequal will today become equal participants in decision-making. Reservation quotas for women, therefore, becomes an essential instrument to jump start the process of equality. Women constitute 50 per cent of the society. In the last 63 years, we have witnessed 15 general elections. The actual election of women has not significantly changed. It remains between a range of 7 to 11 percent. Even today, sixty three years after independence the representation of women in the 15th Lok Sabha is 10.7 percent. This in itself demolishes the myth that slowly the situation will improve with regard to women’s representation even if nothing is done. The truth is that in the last 63 years, it has not happened and in the next 63 years, it is not likely to happen.

Can men in majority also look after women’s interest ?

The reality is that 50 percent section of the society gets a 10 percent share. We speak in terms of becoming a global economic power. We are a state with a nuclear capability. We host amongst the largest number of billionaires but 2/3rd of our children are born out of the womb of their mothers without medical facilities. Our maternal mortality is 410 out of 1,00,000 (one lac), which is one of the highest in the world. Some 88 percent of pregnant women are anaemic.

Demographically, the national average of woman is 933 for every 1,000 men. Unconfirmed reports show that five million foetuses are aborted every year. The gender literacy gap index puts us at number 121 in the world. Our female literacy is 53 percent as compared to male literary of 76 percent. The female drop out from school is almost twice that of their male counterparts. Even though in the last ten years, we have made some progress in our personal laws, some personal laws are still retrograde. They treat women as unequals. Some deny them the equal right to property. Dowry continues to be a menace. This parliament does not have the courage even today to say that all personal laws, which violate the constitutional guarantees of right to live with dignity and equality are unconstitutional and must be repealed.

The argument that men can also ensure justice to women has been weakened. Underrepresentation and discrimination stare us in the face. The time has come for equal representation. The politics of tokenism must now evolve into a politics of ideas. The politics of ideas must be accelerated by the politics of representation. It is on this rationale that I stand here to support the Bill.

What is the Law

The Constitutional amendment is very simple. It has a life span of 15 years. In this lifespan of 15 years, if General Elections are held as scheduled, there will be three blocks of Lok Sabha seats, each constituting one-third. Each block will get a representation for one General Election. At the end of 15 years, each constituency would have sent women to the Parliament. Since there is a constitutional provision for representation for seats for SC and STs one-third of those reserved seats obviously will be reserved for women of that community. This principle will apply for a period of 15 years. After judging the quantum and quality of representation, Indian legislature will have an opportunity to decide whether to continue or discontinue the reservation.

Past Experience

The 73rd and 74th amendments reserved constituencies for women in state assemblies. Several state government have even reserved up to 50 percent of seats in the local bodies and panchayats. The spread of female representation has increased manifold. Today, 43 percent elected positions in Panchayats are held by women.

Experience of other countries

The experience of several other countries in the world shows that three different systems have been followed to provide for reservations. The first system is to reserve certain number of fixed constituencies for women. This has been universally successful. Today, it is on strength of this reservation that one of the poorest countries of the world viz. Rwanda has overtaken Sweden with 48.8 percent of women in their Parliament. Sweden has 47 percent, Argentina has 40 percent, Norway has 36 percent, and even Afghanistan has 27 percent whereas Pakistan has 22 percent. Because of this system of reserving constituencies, it has been successful.

The second system is the list system where political parties submit a list of individuals to represent the parties. The third methodology is to fix quotas for political parties. All these systems have been attempted and a global pattern is available.

Why prescribing a percentage for women candidates for political parties is not successful

Article 19 (1) (c), read with the limitation prescribed under Article 19 (4) in the Constitution as at present enacted does not allow a constitutionally valid legislation to prescribe for a restriction on the right to form and run an association with a sex-based quota- the only restrictions allowed are in the interests of sovereignty and integrity of India, public order or morality. Such a system is unlikely to be successful. The United Kingdom (UK) has such a system. It does not ensure that women are fielded in constituencies in which their success in likely. The result is that in a mature democracy like the UK, which provides for quota in political parties, the representation is at 19.8 percent in the House of Commons, which is lower than the representation in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Rwanda.

Why rotation is justified.

The provision for rotation in the Constitution amendment has come in for some controversy. Rotation is the most suitable principle for sex-based reservation. It will ensure that in the 15 year period, the life of this amendment, each constituency in the country sends, at least once, a woman representative to the Parliament. This will increase the horizontal spread of women activism across the country. This coupled with reservations in the local self-governments and panchayats will throw up a huge activism at a national level. Thus, after 15 years, when reservations are removed and constituencies are thrown open, India will have millions of women activists for political parties to choose from. On the contrary, if there is no rotation and one single constituency remains reserved for a long period of time, it will result in reverse-discrimination against men belonging to that constituency who would be disqualified for a very long period of time. It does not stand to reason that persons once elected will not nourish that constituency. A woman is not disqualified for contesting for a second time. She will generally nourish the constituency in order to ensure that she has a chance for contesting the next election. There would be several male candidates who would be busy nourishing the constituency in the hope of contesting the next time.

Should there be reservation quotas for other castes and communities

The constitution provides for caste-based reservations only for SCs and STs. When there is no reservation for other communities, there is no reason why there must be reservation for women belonging to those communities. Most candidates selected by Political Parties will mirror the social character of the constituencies.

The Gujarat experiment

Gujarat Assembly has passed a Bill providing for reservation for women in the local self-bodies and Panchayats at 50 percent level. It is ironical, that the Congress which is supporting the Bill at the centre is obstructing it at the State level. For the last four months, the Governor of Gujarat is not giving her consent to the Bill. The Congress should seriously introspect its lack of commitment on this issue.

The members of this august House are privileged today to be privy to the passing of this historic legislation. I stand one with the Government of the day and other political colleagues to uphold the aspirations of women in India. I appeal to all members to be unanimous in approving this Bill.

[randheer_singh]

Sonia Gandhi is busy giving interviews to all TV Channels claiming the credit for Bill and how it was Rajeev Gandhi's dream. It is funny to know that how much Rajeev Gandhi dreamt and didn't execute in his 5 years. Just compare this with PVN who always seem to be half slept and achieved so many things in his 5 years.

Sonia never give interviews to TV Channels. She is out there to take credit for the Bill. BJP should not allow Congress to take its Credit. Just watch ,Congress will allow lot of Drama in Lok Sabha and the bill will be postponed for next session saying that Fianance Bills are moe important.

[swami105]

Dear Randheer,

The bill will not be passed in the current session of the lok sabha. This is to facilitate the passage of the finance bill. But Madam Sonia has become Saint Sonia. This biased media will never give BJP its due. If the BJP cooperates then it is not given credit and if it opposes then it is unreasonable. Rudy not coming on television today did not help things for the BJP.

Regards,

[stokinghem]

जनता ने श्री जेटली जी को राज्यसभा में और श्री प्रसाद जी को कल शाम मीडिया डिबेट में अपने वक्तव्य देते हुए टीवी मीडिया पर देखा...दोनों ने यह जो महिला आरक्षण का बिल कार्य मूलतः बीजेपी के कार्यकाल से चल रहा है वोह मुद्दे पर जरा भी जोर नहीं डाला ...जिस बात पर जोर था वोह सिर्फ कोंग्रेसी ओ के खराब फ्लोर मेनेजमेंट पर ही था वोह चीज जनता को जानने में कोई रस नहीं था ..कोंग्रेसी ओ फ्लोर मेनेजमेंट कैसा भी खराब हो इसमें बीजेपी को और जनता को क्या लेना देना है ....उल्टा खराब हो वोह बीजेपी के लिए अच्छा था .... व्यक्तिगत सामने की पार्टी वोलो ने क्या किया उस पे जोर मार दिया ...जैसे ब्रिंदा करत की तरह...जनता को व्यक्तिगत एगो की लड़ाई में रस नहीं होता है ..जनता की नजर में ....यह बिल वोट बैंक पोलिटिक्स की लड़ाई थी ...नहीं तो इस में महिला ओ को ३३ की जगह संपूर्ण साजेदारी दी जाती .......रवांडा में अपर हाउस में संसद की अवधि ८ साल की है ...रवांडा में सिर्फ एक ही पार्टी है और उनका सासन है ... जिस देसो का जिक्र हुआ उन देसो में हर चुनाव क्षेत्र में कितने मतदार होते है वोह जिक्र जरूर्री लगता है .....पाकिस्तान में तो सिर्फ सर गिनने का होता है ! ....महिला को सही तरह से पूरी साजेदारी( हर एक क्षेत्र से एक महिला प्रतिनिधि ) नहीं देने वाले बिल में साथ देकर बीजेपी ने भी सिर्फ वोट बैंक पोलिटिक्स में रस है एइसा उभर के आता है ...क्या आप दूसरे देसो से ज्यादा अच्छा कार्य नहीं कर सकते ...सिर्फ नक़ल से ही जीना है ....अभी भी सदनों में 'हा' य 'ना' की जगह 'आइस' और 'नो' बोला जाता है !

[DHIRAGAR]

Hi,

I agree that we will not get the due credit if the bill is passed.

We should increase the audience on this forum so that more and more participants can understand BJP's perspective and local leaders should connect to grass root to communicate the same.

I have observed that active participants are in the range of 10~15 and maximum views for any topic are 500~600 , which is not the number of target audience we desire from this website.

This forum should be a national forum for discussion and free debate. We should advertise this forum in papers and invite people to visit the site and give their views.
Also a chat room with prominent leaders participating in discussions will also help in increasing the number of audiences .

Regards

[rajkiran]

I disagree with Arun Jaitley on the rotation part.

The fundamental principle of democracy is "accountability to public". This bill unearths 2/3rds of the seats - wiping out accountability - hence, undemocratic. This is a bahu-beti-biwi bill. Jaitley talked about empowerment - He should provide statistics of women's empowerment in women led constituencies vs men led constituencies to make his case. alas, statistics are not on his side.

Welcome to Rabri devi's!

I understand the political compulsion of BJP in supporting this bill though.

[shailesh001]

BJP has been tamed in a an unethical and anti- national (against all Indians) bill, an eye wash working like a second to Congress when in the end it will still remain at where it was Congress taking all the credit.

And what kind of credit? Will parliamentarians will serve the public by passing such bills in house? What more reservations can come next? Do we need reservations based on sex, caste and religion or should this reservation be for merit and worth?

Unfortunately this is not regarding only Congress and BJP it's about the kind of men we all are. Nowhere this happens. We don't have to copy any country, enough are citizens in this country and enough men reservations won't make any better for women and no better can they be elsewhere. But the onus is again on lousy men.

The biggest problem is media. This represents the idiots who will collect hundred of opinions how to play a ball after the ball has been played and then will give many more of one i bowled on that ball. this is a "mahila chakravyuh".

This is a land where a "Bhishm Pitamah" is unethically killed by a "shikhandi". This is a land of shikhandis.

I am not amused at all although hugely disappointed, because this is sign of entropy that has got its crevice to turn rampant and it all will end very soon. It's not to make ever lax men here it's time for men to take "gandiiv" in the hands. No point to be blinded by the crust of the matter.

BJP cannot be a party to the kind of politics is being run in this country it will be disastrous if the fickle to change after only a few beatings leading into an entity with no identity of itself and devoid of an intensity, purpose and endurance, known for past some years, in BJP. Say no strongly to wrongs and yes to the the rights.

It's time to raise a "Ram" and rid of krishna murari-s indulging (and obliging)in raaslila!!

jai ho

[stokinghem]

भारत माता की जय
वंदे मातरम


राज्यसभा क्या है ....

भारत वर्ष के बंधारण सभा के सदस्यों ने सायद यही सोच समज और विचार के साथ बंधारण में राज्यसभा का प्रावधान रखा होगा ...

की .... लोकसभा में जो प्रतिनिधि वयोवृध्ध हो जाये अपने चुनाव क्षेत्र का कार्य अवस्था की वजह से ठीक तरह से ना कर पाए फिर भी देस को उनके अनुभव ज्ञान का लाभ देस की जनता को मिल सके ...साथ में राज्यों की विधान सभा द्वारा राज्य के ही किसी ज्ञान वृध्द वयोवृध्ध्द प्रतिभा को केंद्र में राज्य के प्रतिनिधि स्वरुप भेज सके ...लोकसभा के युवान और गर्म खून वाले प्रतिनिधि ओ के द्वारा जल्द बाजी और अज्ञान वश अगर कोई गलत निर्णय लिया गया हो ....या तो कोई चीज में फिर से सोचने की जरूरत हो ...तो राज्यसभा में एइसा किया जा सके ....साथ में अगर देस में कोई पक्षा पक्षी पार्टीबाजी से पर राजकारण से अलिप्त प्रतिभा ऐ विविध क्षेत्र में हो और उनका लाभ देस को मिल सके इस लिए राज्यसभा रखने का उचित लगा होगा ....और बंधारण लिखने वाले चाहते भी होगे की राज्यसभा का जो राजकीय पार्टी का प्रतिनिधि हो वोह लोकसभा में अपने बलबूते लोकसेवा द्वारा और प्रजा द्वारा बारम्बार चुना गया हो और ज्ञानवृद्ध और वयोवृध्ध हो..... और राज्यसभा का कार्य क्षेत्र भी एइसा ही और इतना ही सोचा होगा की लोकसभा से जो कुछ निर्णय हो उनकी कड़ी कसोटी जाँच पड़ताल राज्यसभा के ज्ञान्वृध्ध्द सदस्यों द्वारा होने के बाद ही उनका अमल किया जाय ......

मगर यहाँ तो उलटी गंगा बह रही है .....सदस्यों के बारे में भी अगर कोई व्यक्ति सासन कर्ता का - पार्टी सुप्रीमो का चहेता पसंदगी का हो उनको सरकार में बिठाने के लिए डायरेक्ट विधानसभा ओ के सदस्यों को व्हिप का सस्त्र दिखा के ( जनता के लिए गुप्त और आत्मा की आवाज़ से मतदान करने की दुहाई देने वाले सभी राजकीय पक्ष अपने सदस्यों पर जाहेर में व्हिप दे के खुले आम लोकशाही की अवहेलना कर रहे है !) कोई अ बी क कोई राज्य सभा में ले आते है चाहे जनता की परीक्षा में वोह पास हुआ ना हो ( लोकसभा में चुनाव लडके ) या तो वह लोकसभा के चुनाव में हार के नापस हुआ हो !.. चाहे वयोवृध्द ज्ञान्वृध्ध्द ना हो ....राज्य सभा में सदस्य वोह ही होना चाहिए की जिसने कम से कम ३ बार चुनाव चाहे लोकसभा या तो विधानसभा ओ जीते हो ...वोह देस के लिए भी लाभ कर्ता होगा और किसी भी राजकीय पार्टी के लिए भी लाभ कर्ता होगा .....

अभी के महिला आरक्षण बिल में इसी तरह उलटी गंगा ही बही है ....वास्तव में कोई भी बिल लोकसभा में सही तरीके से पास होना चाहिए बाद में राज्य सभा में आना चाहिए और वहा पर बंधारण में फेरफार जैसे महत्व के बिल पर संपूर्ण विगत से सब ज्ञान वृध्द वयोवृध्ध महा महिम के द्वारा विगत से एक एक सब्द और व्यख्या के बारे में चर्चा होनी चाहिए बाद में ही बिल को पास किया जाना चाहिए .....पर यहाँ तो पहले ही बिल राज्यसभा में पेश कर दिया गया ...थोड़े कुछ भाषण बाजी ( निखालास और विनमय अदन प्रदान वाली चर्चा नहीं ) ( एक सदस्य श्री सतीश मिश्र के वक्तव्य में स्पष्टता और निखालासता नजर आई )साथ में कुछ माननीय सभ्यो को सस्पेंड कर के पास भी कर दिया .....साथ में लोकसभा को बायपास कर दिया गया की असल में बिल पास करना उनका कार्य और हक है ....यह सब राज्यसभा - की जिनको खास लोगो कि सभा अपर हाउस बोला जाता है इनकी गरिमा के योग्य नहीं है....राज्यसभा के सदस्यों की गरिमा के भी योग्य नहीं है ..बंधारण बनाने वालो ने स्वप्न में एइसा नहीं सोचा होगा की किस विषय को राज्य सभा में पहले पास कर के लोकसभा के उपर पास करने के लिए थोपा जाय !..सस्पेंड हुए लोगो को उस हद तक क्यू जाना पड़ा...जब उनकी बात सुनी नहीं जा रही तब या तो वोह सभ्य राज्यासभा के लायक नहीं थे ..या तो बिल लाने वाले लोगो ने सही तरीके विगत से बताया नहीं होगा तब ....

यह सब अभी तक स्कूल कोलेजो में समाज शास्त्र में पढाया जाता है लोकसभा राज्यसभा के बारे में अब तक और इस ज्ञान के द्वारा जनता के दिमाग में उठे हुए सवाल है .....

[schatterjee]

With all due regards, I totally disagree with Arun Jaitley-ji , and my personal opinion is that this bill will do no good for ordinary women in India, this bill is An assault on freedom of choice, anti-demoratic and anti-equality. This bill is nothing more than dynatic ploy which will include Biwi-Beti-Bahu-Behen-Bhanji in parliament.

If this Bill becomes law, it will:

.Remove all incentive to nurse constituencies;
.Sitting MPs will insist nomination for their own kith and kin.
.Institutionalize mediocrity and naivety in parliament more Rabri Devis.
.Most important, it strikes at the very core of democracy, it restricts freedom of choice.

We need to come-out from the reservation mindset; reservation cannot be solution for everything it only encourages mediocrity. Much constructive way for women in politics would have been

• Reservation in political parties than in Parliament
• No constituency should gender based and there should be no provision of rotation.
• Tickets should not be given to 2 members of same family

We need to give our daughters/wives/mothers equal opportunity in politics but without diluting spirit of democracy and excellence, we need to also see that this reservation does not turn to another ploy of dynastic politics. Right now there is not provision to stop that and we can see daughters/wives/mothers of existing political leader taking these positions enriching their own personal coffers.

Congress is pressing for the voting on women's bill to break the opposition unity on the issue of price rise and other pressing issues. My serious advice to party leadership and members are, that they should be careful else congress will take all credit, and BJP will be sitting duck. Also there is a good chance Congress agrees Quota inside Quota for minorities and hence becomes savior of both women and minorities.

In all this I remmebered two famous quotes.

Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. ~Plato
Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where they is no river. ~Nikita Khrushchev

Jai-Hind,
S. Chatterjee

[amartya.talukdar]

The Women’s Reservation Bill should not be passed in any form.

The parliament as an instrument of the government owes its legitimacy by being elected by the people.

By denying some people right to get elected, just because of their gender, parliament will loose its legitimacy. Also it is against the fundamental principle of Equality enshrined by the constitution.

Also why one should be forced to elect a woman as his or her representative even though that female stands for some particular ideology is behind my comprehension. It tantamount to partial dis-enfrichesment.

It will also open a Pandora’s box of claims and counter-claims for reservation from minorities and other sparsely represented groups and interests in parliament.

Hindsight has shown the devastating result of communal, pharocial and caste based politics. Millions have died in the partition and communal violence perpetuated by our unscrupulous leaders.

This bill is a part of larger plan of Sonia Gandhi (nee Maino) to Divide and polarize society on basis of Gender so that she can make rich electoral gains. She is no different from Raj Thakrey or M.A. Jinnah.

Such bills will deprive us of able parliamentarian. Mr. Kalam was more suitable than our present President. He was a role model for millions.

Able women did not need any reservation to come to power. Neither our founding fathers, who were great freedom fighters and more learned than our present parliamentarians, felt the need for such reservations.

The Women’s resevervation bill will surreptitiously import ultra feminism into our country in name of women’s empowerment. Feminists are anti-God, anti-family, anti-heterosexual and are as dangerous as the Taliban.

The Impact of Feminnism and womens’ liberation movement in the West has been that:-

Women were liberated from :-

• the home,
• from their husbands,
• from their children –
• from having to bear children at all.

Fathers were liberated from their authority. Children were liberated from limits, from rules, even their parents. And the entire population was liberated from moral and ethical standards.

Yet it turns out that those things were precisely what held society together.

"Family values" have been so scorned ,that the west is left with neither families nor values. What do they have? Rampant illegitimacy and sexual disease, widespread divorce, and a generation of unloved, undisciplined, and uncared-for kids.

Do we want this in India?

In light of above it is important that such a great constituional question should be decided by referrandum alone. Let the common woman and not feminist decide what is good for the country.

Save Indian family, Save India