Strategies for Enhancing Women’s Representation in the Lok Sabha: Analyzing the Impact and Implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill.
THE LAWWAY WITH LAWYERS JOURNAL VOLUME:-11 ISSUE NO:- 11 , MAY 30 , 2024 ISSN (ONLINE):- 2584-1106 Website: www.the lawway with lawyers.com Email: thelawwaywithelawyers@gmail.com Authored by:- Sakkcham Singh Parmaar STRATEGIES-FOR-ENHANCING-WOMENS-REPRESENTATION-IN-THE-LOK-SABHA-ANALYZING-THE-IMPACT-AND-IMPLEMENTATION-OF-THE-WOMENS-RESERVATION-BILL Abstract:- The underrepresentation of women in India’s Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament, has been a longstanding issue that has drawn significant attention from scholars and policymakers alike. The Women’s Reservation Bill, which proposes to reserve one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies for women, has been a subject of intense debate and discussion since its introduction in the late 1990s. The existing literature on the topic provides valuable insights into the impact and implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill. The study found that the reservation of local government seats for women in India led to a reduction in crimes against women, demonstrating the potential impact of increasing women’s political representation. Similarly, the analysis by the authors of the ‘Gender Audit for Gender Mainstreaming of Coastal and Marine Fishing Community of India’ highlights the low representation of fisherwomen in the legislative assemblies, emphasizing the need for more targeted efforts to ensure the inclusion of marginalized groups in the political process. At the same time, the normative-empirical study on the political rights of women in the Indonesian constitution suggests that a shift from the quota system to a system of reserved legislative seats may be more effective in increasing women. Therefore, different studies show the impact and implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill, while at the same time, few studies show the growing area of concern where the bill needs to come into effect and work as a voice for women. History:- The advocacy for political reservation for women in India started in the early years of the 20th century with notable figures such as Begum Shah Nawaz and Sarojini Naidu championing political equity in 1931. It was brought to light by the National Action Committee on the Status of Women in 1971 that women were not adequately represented in political positions. This prompted the 1988 National Perspective Plan for Women which proposed having seats reserved for women at every level of governance consequently resulting in the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments. To reserve one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies for women is the purpose of the Women’s Reservation Bill introduced in 1996. Despite many attempts to make it into law, the Bill has received significant opposition as different administrations showed interest in passing this landmark legislation but could not do so because of political conflicts and fears over the effects on the existing reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBCs). NDA Government (1998-2004): Many tries were made by the government to pass the bill but there was internal resistance and lack of agreement among leaders. UPA Government (2004-2014): Despite repeated trials, the government faced resistance from critical allies, leading to its failure in the House of People after having been successfully moved through the Rajya Sabha back in 2010. The advocacy for 2023 Hunger Strikes demands such protests as K. Kavitha’s hunger strike that is meant to urge for the passage of the Bill, underscoring continuous political splits and controversies over its necessity. Especially, their way of achieving The Women’s Reservation Bill vividly illustrates the intricacies of the political scene in India as unflagging endeavours are frustrated by political, social, and cultural factors of importance. Women’s Reservation Act, 2023:- India has passed a law that guarantees women one-third of all their Lok Sabha seats; their State Legislative Assemblies’ seats; or seats reserved for people from Scheduled Castes (SC) or Scheduled Tribes (ST); or any other such body where we have these scheduled categories represented like National Capital Territory of Delhi’s Legislative Assembly which also have some quotas regarding these groups as mentioned above here under certain circumstances. By an amendment to the Constitution (Article 330 & c) these classes were recognized as castes by the government hence adding complexity to federal Indian politics such that these women must be elected/appointed into 1/3 of their houses without regard for social norms whatsoever. The reservation will start when demographic figures are released after conducting a census following the introduction of this law and it will continue until fifteen years unless parliament decides to extend it. After every delimitation exercise, there will be a law made by the parliament on how the seats for women move around regarding this specific matter. Presently, with regards to the Lok Sabha number 17 that will be in session between 2019 and 2024, only 15% of elected representatives are females and when it comes to state houses this figure drops even lower up to 9% on average. The Indian Constitution does not allow women reservation in the public sector explicitly. In contrast, Paragraph 16(2) prohibits sexual orientation-based discrimination in the workplace. Therefore, as the Supreme Court observed in the Indra Sawhney case of 1992, women will only be granted lateral rather than vertical reservation. Reservation for women is a form of reservation where women are also provided with an equal opportunity just the way it happens in horizontal reservations. This type of reservation cuts across vertical categories specifically for women, disabled, transgender, and veterans. Each vertical category is treated differently as far as applying the horizontal quota is concerned. For instance, if women account for 50% of the horizontal quota, then in each vertical quota category, half of the elected representatives must be women. Women’s Participation in different sectors and Women’s Job Quota in different States:- Women’s employment reservations have greatly advanced in some Indian states. In 2006, a 30% horizontal reservation for women who are domiciled in the state was ordered by the Uttarakhand government. Even though it was briefly lifted in 2022 by the High Court, the Supreme Court allowed its implementation after which an ordinance was issued reaffirming the government’s intention towards this particular policy in 2023. This is a case of vertical reservations that are available to women from any