Saturday, April 10, 2010

Women's Reservation bill in India

Currently there is a lot of discussion going around, the women's reservation bill in India. It has already been passed in Rajya Sabha(the Upper House of Indian Parliament). Many have opposed the bill vehemently. The bill seeks a 33% reservation of women in Parliamentary seats.

So what are the advantages of the bill ? The supporters claim, that more women in power would mean empowerment to women.

Lets have a look at one of the most prominent women politician of today - Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton. She wanted to run for presidency, but was defated by Barack Obama, who eventually won the presidency, winning very comfortably against his Republican rival. The Republicans had targetted Hillary for doing a flip flop on policies. She had vehemently supported US invasion of Iraq. But when things started to get wrong, she started to say, that the war is wrong, and acted, as if she never supported the war. Several news channels beamed both of her speeches. Her political career is not very illustrious. In fact it is not even worth following.

The question is does her being a women, helps the society in any way ? The answer to this seems to be very much in the negative. 

Now back to India. It is an open truth, that Sonia Gandhi has very high political ambitions, but due to her nationality, she is facing very stiff resistance. With more women, in he parliament, she hopes to diminish that opposition. Then she can play the women card, and become PM of India. Her mother in law, had followed a policy, where she used to promote incompetent people, so that there were no challengers for her. Similar is the ploy being employed by Sonia Gandhi.

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