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Journalism of Courage
Death may be the greatest of all human blessings, Socrates once said. Sharad Yadav seems to have taken this too literally: he first threatened to kill himself if the Womens Reservation Bill was passed,then backtracked to say that he was misunderstood and was only invoking Socrates. The Greek philosopher consumed poison rather than flee Athens and abandon his convictions,thereby immortalising himself for later day followers such as the JDU chief. Yadav argues that since the legislation does not provide for a caste-based sub-quota within the reserved 33 per cent proposed,it does not mirror society. Neither this argument nor his classical references justify Yadavs shrill rhetoric.
Sadly,such hysteria surrounding the Womens Reservation Bill pending in Parliament has obscured its flawed design. By focussing only on caste-based sub-reservations,its opponents do not focus on the bills more evident flaw. It proposes that the one-third reserved seats be rotated to different constituencies every election cycle. This could mean that a member of Lok Sabha will have little incentive to work for that particular constituency,since its status as a reserved or general constituency would be unclear. Critics have other worries. Whats to say that a male MP whose constituency is reserved for women in one election cycle will not simply nominate his wife,sister,mother or daughter on his behalf,so that when de-reserved,it would be his to contest once again. Assorted remedies to this have been suggested in the past for instance,two-member constituencies but there is little evidence that adequate debate has taken place amongst policy-makers and political parties.
