A Woman does not need reservation to rise

As far as my daily routine goes...I wake up in the morning and sit in front of the idiot box,sip in hot coffee,and watch the morning news.Like everyday,today was no special.I was watching the IPL updates,the KKR gearing up to battle the Mahi boys,Shoot-out near ISRO,Bangalore...

And then something shocked me.

The footage showed a Baba in a remote village in UP,dressed in regular clothes,sporting huge garlands,and dancing in a fit of rage.Thousands of villagers,mostly women,sat around the makeshift pandal.And then what I saw....shamed me.

This baba was beating women brutally ,punching their abdomen,dragging them by their hair and kicking them ruthlessly.Thousands of men and women clapped and sang hymns in unison,as if transfixed in the act of this faith healer.These women were brought in the camp by their husbands and family members to cure them of their mental imbalances,and free them of what they call - Bhoot ka Waas.

One such woman,appearing to be in her twenties, faced "Thrasher Baba's" wrath.It was a scene that churned my stomach and froze my eyeballs.The baba kicked this woman on her face and stood on her neck to choke her .The helpless woman cried in pain as if she would die any moment,blood oozing out of her mouth,face smeared with dust .He then kicked her repeatedly in the most beastly manner in her lower abdomen area.Then holding her by her hair,he threw her metres away.No one heard her cries,media - people kept on capturing the incident,showing the tearful,blood-smeared face of the woman.

The men closed their eyes in devotion of the sanguinary "Thrasher Baba".

Shame....what a shame.

It was just days ago that the womens reservation bill was passed in one of the houses of the parliament,that guaranteed one third reservation of women in the State Assemblies.

I argue here.It is more important to empower them socially,educationally and economically.But we have not seen any major move in the last 60 years.

Despite women occupying the posts of President,Speaker,Leader of the ruling party and the Leader of the opposition,the stark reality is that female foeticide,"honour" killings,dowry,and crimes against women continue to plague society.Atrocities such as wife-beating,marital rape,and denial of opportunities in the name of tradition and religion hardly come to our knowledge.Barring a few,women are in no position to retaliate or protest.These millions of women earn meagre incomes producing goods in their homes,picking and recycling rubbish,working as agricultural labourers,small farmers,construction workers,street vendors and hawkers.Bereft of a voice,they have remained invisible to most our my middle -class compatriots and are vulnerable to exploitation and neglect.It is sadly clear how bigotry,dressed up as culture or tradition,helps maintain this unfairness.These traditions are used to justify out-dated and unfair practices which feed inequality and traps millions under poverty.Women and girls in particular find themselves excluded from opportunities,with the poorest terribly vulnerable to exploitation,neglect and abuse.Women's work is denied recognition and proper pay.They face enormous obstacles in having their voices heard and in claiming rights and freedoms that are enshrined in our constitution and laws but denied in practice.Only when the Women's reservation bill helps the hapless women lead a dignified life can we say it served a useful purpose.Let it not serve as a means for women of the upper strata to further their interests.

The proposed reservation is only a symbolic gesture,as far as the masses are concerned.It will create more political dynasties by facilitating the entry of daughters and daughter-in-laws and nieces waiting in the wings of opportunity.These women tend not to represent the larger women population,instead,they lock in the seats for a handful of powerful families.These seats tend to go to the bahu-betis of other family members of established politicians and industrialists.An independant male candidate who has done a good job in his constituency and stands a very good chance of getting re-elected may become ineligible to contest from the constituency if it is declared reserved for women.

It is important for the Women's Reservation Bill to provide a reservation for the OBC's.Women belonging to the backward sections cannot compete with their educated counterparts for the party ticket.Party leaderships too will reject them on the ground that they are not winnable or rich enough to contest elections.The rationale behind womens bill is that women cannot cross some barriers without reservation.The social and economic barriers faced by women belonging to the backward sections are much more than the women from the forward castes face.A Reservation within a reservation is a logical and the least of intelligent steps taken by the government.Unless this glaring anomaly is addressed,reservation will remain a means of bringing the upper caste rich women,and daughters and daughter-in-laws of politicians into the parliament.

In the centenary year of the International Women's day,let this bill,that took 14 long years to pass,be seen as a triumph of the womanhood.One hopes that the bill will have a smooth passage at the Lok Sabha without unruly behaviour or disruptions.An opportunity missed now,will only see the bill lying in cold storage forever.

However we should not forget,that the need of the hour is social,educational and economic empowerment of women.

Let this Empowerment not be a Mirage.

"A free race cannot be born of slave mothers"