Women Reservation and Local Self Government

Mr. Dhruv Bhatt; Ms. Sweta B Parekh

Volume : V, Issue : XI, November - 2015

Women Reservation and Local Self Government

Mr. Dhruv Bhatt, Ms. Sweta B Parekh

Abstract :

In any society women population is close to half of the total population. For ages, no matter to which nation they belong, women in general have been suffering from agony, distress, discrimination & apathy. Women tend to be confined with domestic chores and restrict women participation and decision making in private sphere of life. They turn out to no one but their own family, friends and fellow humans. Every nation has a sordid story of women discrimination behind it. No doubt, the position and status of the women of today has improved quite significantly, however, women continue to suffer in general even now. There are women in this country who have not seen light at the other side of the corner where women are meant to be an item of decoration & child–beå machine. If we look at the dark side of the corner, women constitute about 50% of the population in India and 80% of the rural women are engaged in the domestic and household activities. However, some of them are also engaged in the economic activities to earn livelihood for their families. Even after fifty years of independence, they have not been able to participate effectively in various fields. If we look at the political issues we find that women are now actively entered in political life in India through the Panchayati raj system. Even though, the percentage of women in various levels of political activities in India has risen considerably, but, women are still under–represented in governance and decision–making process. Their power is restricted, as it the men who wield all the authority. Their decisions are often over–ruled by the government machinery. Now let’s look at the positive side of women reservation. No modern society can claim to be progressive without the inclusive role of women in all walks of life, leading to socio economic change and development. The Indian government has raised reservations for women in all tiers of the Panchayati raj system from 33% to at least 50%. In order to ensure this effective linkage of all the five tiers, women reservation becomes a necessity to ing the women population to participate in the country’s developmental process. With the implementation of reservation of 50% seats for women, a large number of women from rural areas of almost all categories have been given opportunity to occupy political space and are actively participating in this field. However, after 73rd Amendment Act they have started to adore the positions in PRIs. Naturally, now they are compelled to interact with the officials for the performance of their roles assigned to them. The present article throws light on the positive as well as negative side of women reservation and participation of women in Panchayati raj system and various strategies for better involvement of women in Panchayati Raj.