Kodaikanal Gandhi Prize 2023, Third Prize – Chandana P

Kodaikanal Gandhi Prize 2023

Third Prize

Essay Topic: Can the recently enacted reservation for women in parliament be considered Gandhian? Should it include Dalit and OBC quotas within it or should there be women’s quotas in existing Dalit and OBC reservation?

The Kodaikanal Gandhi Prize

by

Chandana P

Parikrma Junior College, Bengaluru

Caste is an social group where an individual is born within a particular system –  SC, ST or OBC. Dalit is treated as the lowest caste in the Hindu social hierarchy. Before independence Dalits were treated very badly – they were not allowed to take water from wells, Dalit children were not allowed to enter classes, Dalit women were sexual servants for upper classmen. They were hanged, raped and tortured if they try to defeat the upper-class people. OBC category people are educationally or socially backward. 

In earlier days, parents were ashamed if a girl was born in their homes. Girls were forced to get married before they reached puberty and were made to do domestic work only done by women. Women were considered weak compared to men, they were not allowed to go to schools instead they had to perform household chores. Chatrapathi Shahu, Maharaj of Kolhapur introduced reservation for backward classes that came into existence in the year 1902.

We always see men represented the most in various fields and women are given less opportunities. Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 into a Gujarati Hindu Modh Bania family in Porbander. Many of the writings and speeches of Gandhiji comment on the sacrifice of a women. He learnt the fundamental aspects of soul politics from his mother and wife. Gandhi was totally opposed to gender discrimination, he did not like that Indian society was always supporting boys and generally neglected a girl child. Gandhi always believed that women could do much to transform India on all levels. He also believed that equal rights for women and men were necessary. Gandhi said that if women is weak in striking, but she is strong in suffering. Gandhi also said, “Women is the embodiment of sacrifice and ahimsa”. He further states, “A daughters share must be equal to that of a son.” He preferred girls to remain unmarried all their lives than to be humiliated by marrying a man. 

Most of the illiterate tribal women joined the freedom struggle along with Gandhi. To educate women, Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule started first schooling for girls. Girls were sent to schools and they were provided education. As the women were educated they started being independent and participated in various fields. After numerous struggles regarding women’s reservation in parliament and the caste system, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar first articulated caste inequality in Indian society. Later, he demanded educational rights, equality and right to property for women. He also demanded public drinking water resources open to all, and right for all castes to enter temples and schools. 

Yes, recently enacted reservation for women in parliament might be considered Gandhian because Gandhi always said everyone should get equal opportunities everywhere. Women should also participate in many fields even if she is not given equal chance compared to men. Agnes Macphail became the first women parliament member in the world. In India, when the first Lok Sabha was elected in 1952, women made up only 4.4% of the body. As the years passed, women’s representation stood at 12 percent in 1980. To remedy low participation of women electors, India in 1994 established reservation through Constitutional Amendments to reserve 28.3% of seats in the local government for women. Currently, India’s lower house, the Lok Sabha has 78 elected women MPs out of 543 seats, that is, 14.36% of the total number of MPs are women. A total of 102 women parliamentarians are serving as of 2023. The Women’s Reservation Bill, which passed both the houses of parliament will ensure that women will occupy at least 33 percent of the seats in state legislative assemblies and the Lok sabha, the lower house of parliament. Hence considering all these points that support women reservation is considered Gandhian. 

Yes, it should include dalit and OBC quotas within it because most of the time we see the caste system as an unequal mode of organisation of social relations, with the pure and impure at either extreme. Hence Ambedkar provided certain constitutional provisions to protect the rights of Dalits in social, economic, educational, employment and political fields, in the form of positive discrimination. Dalits are the depressed class people and OBC are educationally or socially backward people. Ambedkar demanded electorates for Dalits and reservation seats in educational institution for them. Once Ambedkar said “ Non- Brahmins must get highly educated and occupy the strategically important places, which has remained the monopoly of Brahmins since long”. Reservation should be provided to Dalit and OBC caste people because it helps in removing the inequality among different castes by bringing them at the same level with other upper castes. So seats are reserved in Lok Sabha for SC and ST so that they get a chance of decision making. Prime Minister VP Singh, stated before the Parliament on August 1990 that OBC’s would be given 27 percent reservation in central government jobs and other public sector units. To uplift the lower castes and give them equal opportunities reservation are must. Hence to provide adequate representation of all classes in government service Ambedkar, Jyotibai  Phule, Chatrapati Shahu and William Hunter have struggled a lot. 

Every caste should be treated equally. Reservation is undertaken to address oppression, inequality and discrimination faced by communities. In India, reservation to the SC, ST and OBC, in case of direct recruitment on an all-India basis by open competition is given at the rate of 15%, 7.7 % and 27% respectively. Six previous attempts to pass the measure had failed, often due to the opposition of smaller regional parties, many of which insisted that the gender quota must include a sub quota for women representing historically disadvantaged castes. Together , these trends cast a shadow over the newly adopted quota reform. Bringing more women into national and state politics could be a significant step for women’s representation, making governance more responsive to women’s interest and needs. Yet ongoing efforts to concentrate power in the executive branch and close space for dissent will inevitably weaken these representational gains. After all civil society is another critical space for women to articulate their demands, hold legislators accountable and claim political power.