10.5% of political positions are with women in India
Job Board + Women Reservation Bill + Indo-Canadian Tensions
Hello, hope you are having a good sunday. This week’s newsletter covers top 4 jobs of the week, everything around and about women reservation bill and the advancements in Indo-canada challenges.
Job Board
Policy Communication Associate, Civis
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Manager Strategic Partnerships, Miduty
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Associate Editor, Citizens for Justice and Peace
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Program Associate, World Resource Institute
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Women Reservation Bill 2023
Balanced political participation and power-sharing have been key international targets under the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Globally, a first-time compiled data by UN Women in 2023 shows that women represent 22.8 per cent of Cabinet members heading Ministries.
However, in the Indian context, as per the latest data from the Election Commission of India, women represent 10.5% of all members of parliament as of October 2021.
Women’s participation and representation gained attention at the advocacy and parliamentary level with the introduction of the Women Reservation Bill 2023.
As cited, it was a historical week for the Indian Parliament when the Constitution (one hundred twenty-eight Amendment) Bill 2023 was passed unanimously by the Rajya Sabha and a day before by the Lok Sabha.
It is interesting to note, that this was the seventh attempt since 1996 to bring this bill to action.
To move ahead, the bill has to be supported by the majority of state assemblies to become an Act in action and implementation.
What is the bill about?
The bill proposes to reserve 33% of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies. This bill is intended to enhance political equity and representation.
Other than that, one-third of the total number of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes shall be reserved for women of those groups in the Lok Sabha and the legislative assemblies.
However, the 33% reservation won’t apply to the upper house of parliament.
Bill to Act: What is the need?
Once the bill sailed through the Lok Sabha, Opposition leader Sonia Gandhi- asked the government for proactive actions and implementation of the bill in the coming 2024 elections. Which, the government has not shown comfort and provisions to bring this shift at this pace.
As the bill converts into an act, the action and implementation of the same is a journey itself. The bill clearly states that it cannot be implemented without a census and a delimitation exercise, to avoid any legal hurdles.
India conducted its last census in 2011, and due to covid pandemic the Census of 2021 could not take place.
The divide
As some consider this bill to be a game-changer, others find it to be challenging to implement at ground level.
Proponents: The proponents of the bill stress the need for affirmative action to improve the situation of women on the political front. They have taken instances and examples from reservations at the Panchayat level and how it has worked well.
Opponents: Some have shown concern that it would perpetuate the unequal status of women since they would not be perceived to be competing on merit.
(Source: PRS, Mint, Indian Express, The Hindu)
Indo-Canadian Tensions
The G20 bilateral discussions for India and Canada did not work as well, as they did for other counterparts. In the subsequent discussions, both sides pointed to two conflicting points ‘foreign interference in Canadian affairs’ and ‘providing haven to India’s extremists’.
Following this, recently, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the parliament made a startling announcement. He alleged that agents of the Indian government were involved in the killing of a Canadian national, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was declared a terrorist as the head of the Khalistani Tiger Force (KTF) in India.
The enquiry on the same has been in process, but the government has expelled the Indian diplomat from the high commission. In response, India followed the same course of action in New Delhi.
The Indian government has stated that ‘no specific evidence’ has been collected for this allegation yet. This series of political and security conflicts has impacted visa processes and trade talks for some time. The long-term impact is yet to be measured and probabilities for returning to normalcy.