elections in india

elections are fast approaching .Let me start with the number of candidacy allotted to women in india.political parties may have allotted less than 20% seats for women., out of them say less than 50% reach the parliment
so a miserable figure from 5-10% women representitives are in our parliment to address their case.here starts the problem of democracy in india.33.3% reservation etc still remains in the paperwaiting for the approval of our upper and lower houses.I still doubt that will be in practice anytime in this decade.so a very huge population is handicapped by their absence in forming the rules and regulations of this country.also lot s of rural housewives are just voting on the influence of the male members of the house.lack of education,social reservations etc are the cause for this pathetic situation
the above explained gender inequality in indian society prompt us to take a deeper stock of the situation in india,especially on an international women's day.
it is a very positive sign to see that more and more girls are going to school for preliminary education when compared to 2005.in 2005 at the age group of 6-14 the school enrollment stood at 88% girls to 92%boys.Where as now it is 96%.This is a welcome sign
however.if the improvement in women's literacy to indicate an overall improvement in their status,we are in for a disappointment.women remain bound by strict patriarchal norms that govern where they go,whether they can venture outside the home alone,how much input they are allowed in household decisions vital to themselves and their children and they have no input in who they marry.Raising income do little to improve
women's status since richer household appear to be more determined to control their movements and autonomy than poor
greatest area of concern lies in steadily declining sex ratios.when compared to the sex ratio of a decade back
of the girl children of 0-6 stood at 927 against 1000 boys.This ratio dropped to 919 to 1000 in recent census.it is a paradox that although today's parents are even more likely to prefer boys to girls than those of the last decade,often resorting to illegal sex-selection practices to ensure the desired sex composition
while this stagnation in women's ability to control their own fate is disappointing,some of the other gender indicators are downright alarming.During years of rapid growth women's employment has steadily declined
,women's participation rate for those between ages 15-59 dropped from 58 to 54% for rural women
and 23 to 20% in urban women.while rising household income may explain some of these declines,the consequences for women empowerment are worrisome
even though the goverenment introduces effective schemes for the empowerment of women,one percent of households have registered their daughters for the much trumpeted girl child schemes that provides cash incentives for the survival and education of the girls,moreover even large schemes often suffer from operational difficulties,the demand for hospital-based deliveries has fast outpaced the ability of the goverenment hospitals to deliver reasonable quality care
so all the above disappointing notes i suggest the women folk to excercise their voting right to a women friendly goverenment at least in the matter of reservation seats etc.slowly the rest will follow and we can wait for another decade with an optimistic note .gender equality also will be essential for a devaloped nation
let us expect a bright tomorrow