Quota: Myth and reality

Let women actually run panchayats

Punjab has done well to give women more political space. Generally the choice of candidates from panchayat to parliamentary elections usually depends on their electability. A candidate’s education, merit, dedication and hard work for a cause, or level of social and political awareness — all play a secondary role. Limited social interaction and unlimited household responsibilities tie them down and shrink the space for electoral politics for them. Secondly, the grammar of electoral politics is such that even when men running political parties are required to put up women candidates on account of reservations, selections get narrowed down to women from political or well-to-do families.

Thirdly, the experience of states opting for women’s reservation is not encouraging. It is more often the husband rather than the elected wife who does the panchayat or municipal job on her behalf. The odds are heavily stacked against women who genuinely wish to use a civic platform to make a difference to their village, town or city. At the national level the 33 per cent quota Bill for women has been pending for years, despite women being MPs, chief ministers and heads of political parties. In this context the Punjab Cabinet’s decision to increase women’s reservations in panchayati raj institutions and urban local bodies from 33 to 50 per cent is laudable.