OBC reservation issue has been made a bone of contention. While the
reservation for SC and St is still incomplete and unjust. For example
the mundas and santhal have no resevation in Assam an the Bengali
Dalit refugees scattered all over India don`t have any reservation as
they enjoy it in West Bengal. The extention of incomplete and unjust
reservation do not influence the general quota only , but it closes
all doors of opportunities for the underclasses including dalits ie
OBC<ST<Sc... As in West Bengal , the mandal commission report is not
implemented although the ruling left front claimstosupport
reservation.
The resrvation issue for woman is the example of the political game
which has divided the society for political gains only.
The incomplete and unjust reservation is much more dangerous for
underclasses including dalits, refugees and women.
Bengal will have an Other Backward Classes quota in higher education,
but it's likely to be less than 27 per cent, the CPM said today.
The party's state secretary, Biman Bose, said there can't be the same
percentage of quotas across the country because the proportion of
OBCs varies. In Bengal, the group makes up 15.8 per cent of the
population compared with the national average of 52 per cent.
He added that at the same time, seats should be increased to
accommodate meritorious students.
"Quotas can't exist at the cost of merit and excellence. So, there
should be an increase in the number of seats along with the
introduction of OBC quotas."
Bose, who is also the Left Front chairman, added that he had spoken
to a cross-section of students to gauge their feelings. "I have come
to know that students have an apprehension that there will be a
reduced chance of meritorious students getting admitted to medical
and engineering courses because of the introduction of quotas."
Although Bose spoke of keeping the quota percentage in Bengal lower
than 27, legal experts doubted whether the state government would
have the final say on the matter.
Article 251 of the Constitution says any law made by Parliament on a
concurrent list subject like education is binding on states. So,
there is no need for a state to pass a separate law on the subject.
A particular state government, however, is allowed to lower the
percentage of reservation through legislation passed in the Assembly.
An official in the state legal department, however, said the same
article in the Constitution says that the Centre, if it wants, can
override this as well.
In this particular instance, however, the 93rd Constitutional
Amendment Act specifies no percentage.
The 27 per cent quota the Centre announced yesterday applies only to
institutions of higher education run by it.
Human resource development minister Arjun Singh has written to state
governments asking them to enact their own legislation reserving
seats for the OBCs.
OBC reservation in Bengal is now limited to government schools,
though there is a 22 per cent quota for the Scheduled Castes and 6
per cent for the Scheduled Tribes in higher education.
Officials at Writers' Buildings said the school OBC quota is 7 per
cent.
Palash Biswas
Gosto kanan , Sodepur, kolkata-700110
phone:91-33-2565-9551(r)
Evaluating the Indian Government on women's issues: a civil society
perspective
Geetha N Bhardwaj
OneWorld South Asia
01 June 2006
To mark the second anniversary of the United Progressive Alliance
(UPA) Government in India, over 250 individuals representing mass
based movements and community based organizations and NGOs from all
over the country, came together on May 23-24, 2006 to evaluate the
achievements and failures of the government.
The commitments of the CMP on all significant areas like agriculture,
rural development, health, education, health, were measured against
the action taken so far by the government, through presentations and
through theme-based group discussions. The idea was to present a
people's view of the government's progress on their own agenda as
manifested in the CMP, to be contrasted against their own scores
which of course, were understandably more generous and favourable.
The group also intended to hold the government accountable for its
lapses, particularly the ones that resulted in huge losses to the
people in terms of human rights as well as lack of access to food,
education, livelihood or health. The question of women's empowerment
and gender equality was discussed as an overarching concern in every
session, for it is true that women constitute a large part of the
country's poor, suffer discrimination through prevailing social
customs, traditions and cultural practices, and thereby suffer from
lack of access to education, health and livelihood.
Speaking on the issue, Ms.Amarjit Kaur, who is the national secretary
of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and a leader of the
CPI, stated that a scorecard of the CMP on the issue of women can be
based upon four parameters political, education, economic and
legal. On the political front, the failure of the government to
gather consensus from the various parties and table the bill for 33
percent reservation for women in the parliament is indicative of its
lack of intent and commitment to the issue.
Even now, the government needs to go ahead and table the bill in its
present form, at the earliest. "Further modifications and amendments
can be made at a later date," she said, "however there should be no
further delay in bringing about this bill"
In respect of education, the government had promised allocate 6 % of
the GDP for ensuring universalisation of education. Ms.Kaur
recommended that the government should come out with a bill on right
to universal, free education as early as possible and they should
also consider inclusion of the 0-6 age group within the purview of
the legislation.
She also insisted that the ICDS and mid-day meals should be
conscientiously implemented if efforts to educate girl-child are to
meet with any results. For in situations of deprivation, it is the
girl-child who loses out on education; the reality is that many
families are willing to pay high prices to send their sons to school
but not so their daughters.
The status of women in unorganized, informal sector and in export
processing zones (EPZ) has not seen any improvement in the current
political regime. At the very least, attention needs to be paid to
the social and physical security of these women, and to the fact that
their basic human rights need to be respected and ensured. The
minimum wage must be ensured for the women, and they must be allowed
to form unions within the EPZ. Also the issue of violence against
women needs to be addressed and increased measures to look at the
physical safety of women should be taken up.
The UPA government has two achievements to its credit in the legal
arena, in terms of the domestic violence bill and the amendment to
the Hindu Succession Act. However, it has yet to implement the
modifications that have been suggested by women's groups, in respect
of enacting a bill for sexual harassment at the workplace. With more
and more cases of this nature coming out into the open, the need for
this bill is being increasingly felt, particularly if we wish to
increase the participation of women in the productive arena.
Legislative reforms have been identified as one of the thrust areas
in the CMP. An Inter-Ministerial Committee including NCW and NGOs
working in this field has been constituted in May 2005 to review
existing laws to address discrimination and ensure equality to women.
The government also needs to effect the amendment of age-old laws
that are relevant to women so that they incorporate a gender-
sensitive perspective that is pro-women or at least reflective of
women's realities.
Understandably, Ms.Kaur stayed with her mandate of speaking on the
issue of women's empowerment and benefits, as promised in the CMP.
However, we must not forget that women constitute a majority of the
country's poor, and therefore this evaluation will remain incomplete
without a look at the impact of the shocking apathy of the government
in respect of its accountability to the poor. The ostensibly pro-poor
face that the government had displayed at the beginning of its
tenure, is fast wearing off as it buckles down to the neo-liberal
forces on the one hand, and to the left-wing forces on the other.
The decision to continue the construction of the Sardar Sarovar dam
while not taking a strong stand on ensuring the dignity and survival
of the dam affected families has adversely affected the lives of
thousands of women and children. The government has so far made no
effort to correct this huge error. The large scale evictions in
Mumbai and Delhi, and in myriad forests, villages, towns and cities
across the country reflect the fact that the government cares for
development, and the poor do not matter. These incidents are in
contradiction with the CMP commitment that there will be no forced
eviction of people and that adequate rehabilitation will be ensured
in all cases.
The increasingly threats to peace, human rights, and to the secular
and democratic nature of the nation is something that the present
government must take into cognizance for these are the values that
women hold dear to the heart.
The UPA government will need to take cognizance of these
recommendations if any level of success in the CMP is to be achieved.
Also, in the ultimate analysis, the people's verdict will always be
based on the criterion of human development balanced against economic
growth, and the government would do well to incorporate the human
element into its evaluation rather than resort to congratulating
themselves on economic progress alone.
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