Comments on The Other Side: Women's Reservation bill may be a blunt instrument...

SoniaG wants to empower the nation! --------------...

2010-03-21T11:22:55.906+05:30

SoniaG wants to empower the nation!
---------------------------------------------

Men and women of India, lend me your years,
Let’s praise the lord and wish the queen with cheers,
We will soon bury our democracy in grand fashion,
And start putting quotacracy in full motion.
For SoniaG wants to empower the nation!

Dr Kalam did not find us empowering,
He sent our bill for profit back, enquiring,
We were not amused by his checking,
So, we had to send him packing.
For SoniaG wants to empower the nation!

Mr. Shivraj Patil is the most pliant and cool,
But he was rejected by Mr Karat the fool,
We played the women card as the tool,
Presto! Everything fell in place like stool.
For SoniaG wants to empower the nation!

The CEC has been a thorn since Sheshan,
And blocked all our plans with passion,
We moved along so far with great caution,
But no more; now we are on our mission.
For SoniaG wants to empower the nation!

Somehow we put an admirer as the CEC,
Things started to get real easy,
Wouldn’t care if his records look messy,
Ignore such talk like the gibberish of the crazy.
For SoniaG wants to empower the nation!

While the president’s wearing our jacket,
And the CEC already in our pocket,
Let us put the power plug in the socket,
Pass women’s reservation bill like a rocket.
For SoniaG wants to empower the nation!

The communists never trusted the constitution,
The BJP is committing suicide as the opposition,
The rest are only interested in weird distribution,
So, we can destroy the parliament as an institution.
For SoniaG wants to empower the nation!

Amen! Brutus is an honourable man!!

The women's reservation bill is undemocratic a...

2010-03-11T00:42:16.476+05:30

The women's reservation bill is undemocratic and very discriminatory. Whatever the argument given in its favour, it remains anti-man. It is shocking that out-rightly denying men the right to contest elections and nurture constituencies is seen as progressive X(. Imagine a law denying women 33% of the seats and their potential to nurture a constituency!!!. People keep asking if there is a better "solution". Solution to what? We don't need a larger number of women. We need responsible meritorious individuals. People speak of women being discriminated against. Nowhere in the constitution is there any discrimination against women. However, this bill if passed will bring discrimination against men to the constitution. There is no need whatsoever of protective discrimination(:o) or affirmative action. If women are to be considered equal, let them do it the hard way, the way men contest elections. That is the only solution. Any sort of reservation is discriminatory whether it be seats or party tickets. Equality of opportunity does not mean equality of results. Results come by merit alone. Educate the women in politics and reduce corruption in party politics. If women's numbers increase, so be it. If they decrease, so be it. Not quite what the feminist ordered, is it?

Excellent Manju on your comments!!! But, 1. I am r...

2010-03-10T15:29:17.152+05:30

Excellent Manju on your comments!!! But,
1. I am reminded of the SC/ST reservation introduced initially.If I remember correctly, it was for 10 years but till today, after every 10 years, the bill gets amended and will be renewed for a next period of 10 years. Nobody knows when the real upliftment happens but its certainly true that events like these will shatter the confidence of the merited. This is a negative approach to the idea of India for the future.

2. Good point. Even if we assume that there will be considerably less undeserving women in the representation, we have to agree to the fact there is a cumulative increase of such people in the field. And the consequence is that there is a discomforting decline in the number of talented lot in the public sector. Should we not answer these questions? Why is the major talented junta going to the private sector? Will not such reservations hurt the democracy? Are we not suppressing the talent out of public sectors? Will it help India? I would not agree that reservation is the only solution and I certainly will not agree that if you have not found out a good solution apply one of the weaker ones.

3. I partially agree to your point that Darwinian philosophy will not probably apply here to the word. But I believe by nature women have certain limitations which probably men dont have, and which is absolutely the reason why men are able to dominate. Science and technology has tried to cut the gap but natural phenomenon like the ability to conceive is still with women.(I dont know if Sci&Tech has advanced yet to transfer it to men:)) ). Though its a good thing that they have such abilities, but it proves to be their limitation someway or the other.

@Yogesh Thanks for the comment dude. Trust me, i ...

2010-03-10T10:21:12.964+05:30

@Yogesh

Thanks for the comment dude. Trust me, i don't take any of the comments personal :)

1. Agree that reservation may not enable to compete, but what's your alternative for enabling those who were discriminated so far just because they were women? We are only talking about affirmative action and that too for only 15 years (if you look at the bill passed yesterday). Is 15 years a long time considering the long history of discrimination?

2. Yes, it is possible that we might see few undeserving women coming into parliament. But that number is NOT proportional to the gains. We will see unprecedented social change as well as some change in the mindset of people. Simply because having "numbers" with you makes your voice heard loud and clear.

3. I thought the Darwinian philosophy of "Survival of the fittest" may not be appropriate to quote here. You might want to read more on "Battle of Sexes". The argument of deciding who is better among men and women never been conclusive so far :)

It is true that there are some drawbacks in reservation. But in our society it's worth facing those drawbacks in order to gain a larger social equality.

Good Post Manju.. Couple of points from my side.. ...

2010-03-10T00:38:35.493+05:30

Good Post Manju.. Couple of points from my side.. These are very general in nature but this is what I feel.
Reservation by definition in wiki "Reservation in Indian law provides for a quota system whereby a percentage of posts are reserved in employment in Government" and I feel this is mostly right. I basically oppose reservations because it is defined to occupy the positions but not enabled to compete. The people who adorn these positions may be deserving but most of the times undeserving. Instead why does not the Government take measures to enable the women,SC/ST,backward classes to compete. Via reservations,we are biasing the outcome instead of changing the mode of competition. I can recollect about the equal opportunity phrase in the constitution. What does the constitution mean by equal opportunity? Does it mean equal opportunity in the results section or in the competition section?
Through reservations, there is also a mass merit murder. Agreed that there are/were women who are/were industrious as like men. But for now, we still can consider there are more meritorius men population. Out of 33 of say 100 LS seats, there can be several non-meritorious women getting elected who did not have deserved but got an opportunity axing the more able men candidates. These women will be the law makers positions ultimately thereby compromising the quality of representation.
You talked about the historical context which I feel is not correct.This explanation looks to be crude but I feel this is valid. We have to travel chronologically backward to understand the real problem. We cannot say that men were more in number than women at the start. Why men emerged powerful is by nature which predicates "The fittest dominates". This is by far true in all the nature-related case studies and men commanded the due-course.

These are just my view-points and dont take it too personal:))

The Women's Reservation Bill in current form i...

2010-03-09T04:20:02.119+05:30

The Women's Reservation Bill in current form is undemocratic.

This bill attempts to deny 110 million Indian men the right to contest in elections.

People who tabled the bill should be arrested for attacking democracy.

The German Model of Women's Reservation by political parties is democratic.
In Germany, political parties field 30% women candidates in elections.
If Germany can do it, why can not India?

Women's Organisation calls the bill Undemocratic and wants changes
http://www.petitiononline.com/womenres/petition.html

Good analysis. I had made similar observations. h...

2010-03-08T23:31:56.240+05:30

Good analysis. I had made similar observations.

http://sandywriter.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-take-on-womens-reservation-bill.html