To
Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister
India.
Subject: My views on The Women’s Reservation Bill.
Dear sir
As you know, the constitution of India gives to its every citizen the right to speech. So, I am free to express my views on any of the decisions that you and your government takes. First of all, congratulations to you that after so many years Congress has taken the initiative to bring the long pending Women’s Reservation Amendment in our constitution.
But as you know, opinions differ. You may find it very good for the women, but many of the citizens doesn’t. India is a diverse country, and before taking such a step you should ask the people who elected you before taking such a big initiative. Surely, it may be a great step for you and your government but not for the good of the country.
Like, if you have reservations for women, there is a possibility that illiterate (as said by one of the MPs) women will get seats instead of better candidates. And as it is clear that this will not at all be beneficial for our country. Also one of the MPs in favor with the decision said that it will give chances to less educated women to come in front and lead the country. So, you want illiterate people to lead the country? Great.
Also, our constitution clearly says that India is a country with equality for all. And by reserving seats are you not defying this right? As a Prime Minister of such a diverse and culturally rich country, this is very disappointing. And, at the same time, this is against the law. No one can defy any citizen of their fundamental rights.
Another thing which is very sad is that the women of our country say that they are equal with men and in some places ahead of them. So if they are equal or even ahead, so why do they want such a reservation of seats? This is also very disappointing. Actually, it’s a shame for the feminists, who fight for equal rights not reserved right. Why are they mum?
At the end, I only want to say is to please reconsider your decision about this Women’s Reservation Bill. Thanks for listening to The Citizen.
Thanking you
Yours faithfully
Manav Dhiman
Student, Active Citizen
Photo credits: indian_women by WildlifeProPhotos, on Flickr
And do post your comments!…
Wow! Very interesting topic of addressing the Prime Minister!
You’ve chosen a very relevant topic and have added your honest views about it. I really appreciate that.
Also, it’s great to find others’ statements in this letter as well. This is just amazing!
Though I just wished you could have used formal language since you are addressing the PM…
Hey Parth! Thanks for stopping by.
Thanks for your kind words! I am very delighted! Formal language? Hmmm… But I wanted to write it with my full emotions. That’s all.
Have a great day!
Holy Cows! I am writing a letter too! You did it faster! LOL
Awesome views man!
Hey Sid!
Thanks! I was working on this from past 2 days!
CHEERS!
Wow it’s wonderful and nice. It’s very nice to write about such a good topic. This is nice to read on such topics! Thanks for inviting me!
Hey Palak! Thanks for commenting once again!!
Hope you’ll stick around with my blog!
Have fun!
Hello Manav. It’s heartening to see such young people like you expressing yourselves so articulately on political and social issues. I will keep an eye on your posts from now on. Keep up the good work!
Hey Sourav! Thanks dude! Glad that such a passionate readers are reading my blog. Really a good experience for me!
Thanks for stopping by!
Hey Manav,
This is nice! I like the way you think!
Pretty impressive!
Landed here from Indiblogger where u asked for some reviews! I would suggest you to read other blogs on the topic before you write. It would help you in lifting the content of your articles!
Best wishes!
Hey Azad, thanks for coming and commenting!
Thanks a lot!!
Thanks for the suggestion, I already read many blogs, but I’ll surely add to the list.
Thanks again!
Great Mr Arvind Adiga In Budding stage
Great thought it feels really good to see young people like you have a national sense and rational ideas
i will keep visiting this place
Great work
Hey Mayank! WOW! But I don’t think I’m comparable to Aravind Adiga. But thanks a lot!
You can subscribe to my blog via email.
Thanks again!
I agree with you. Reservation is against democracy. Reserving seats for a part of the community does not allow every one to participate. But, it is not something new. We have SC/ST quotas from the beginning. Now, because of this bill about half of the seats will be reserved. That means that many people would not be able to contest elections from their area even if they want to.
A one third reservation of tickets for women would have been better. So should the case be for SC/St reservation. What do you think?
I made this comment when I didn’t have a profile. Now I have one. Thanks to you.
Hey Anik! Thanks again for stopping by!!
Actually, only one-third seats have been reserved… I think that there should be no reservations at all because India is a country following the slogan of “Equality for All” and in no sense reservations create equality…
Thanks again!
No, I was not talking about only the Women’s reservation. I said that almost half of the seats are reserved if you include SC/ST reservation.
Hi Manav, I couldn’t help but comment on the views you have expressed in your entry…
I get the feeling that you dint quite get the point behind the bill. If you look at our Parliament today, you hardly find a handful of female parliamentarians, and this is in spite of contituting a good one-half of the country’s population. Clearly, something seems to be wrong here – We have completed more than 60 years of independence and still the state of women and their participation in the country’s law making process is deplorable. Hence the bill.
Oh – and before I conclude… what was that about having illiterate women governing the country?! I am not justifying that but I believe we have more illiterate men leading our country, right now, and I dont hear you complaining about that…
Ya, nice point! I agree with you. But, still this is not the best way to increase female participation.
A bill making it mandatory for parties to give a third of their tickets to women would have been better.
Yup, I agree with Anik, the Acid Woman. “Reservation” is not the answer to everything. First there were reservations for SC/ST and OBCs and now this women.
What the government does is – OK one class of society is suffering from disintegration so let’s reserve their seats in the parliament. Till SC/ST and OBCs it was ok, but now for women… This is just out of the way.
I am not saying that women should not be allowed to come up in politics, but at the sake of others is like pathetic. If you want women to come up, then educate them, give’em jobs… But why is it not happening? CORRUPTION. That’s the thing India is best in Ms Acid Woman.
And, the same point which I used in the post is that India is a country following the principal of “Equality For All”. So by reserving around 50% of seats (Backward Classes + Women) is like discriminating the other half of the population. This is also against Human Rights.
Think on this, please.
Manav, I am not an ardent supporter of reservataion, either. But that is for a whole different set of reasons.
Simply put, I disagree with your train of thought. Reservation is typically for the weaker sections of society. Its done in an attempt to bring them on par with the rest of the society. So reservation is nothing but a means to achieve equality in a country which is as diverse as ours. And I certainly dont think that “women are not being educated because of corruption”.
Nice to see you again Acid Woman. So you are saying that there should be reservations in everything in India? That, from my side deserves a Satyagraha. No joke here. Seriously, by reserving you’re defying the rights of the common man. How can you even think of it.
India’s gonna be one reserved country – every section of the society will have reserved seats… This is what you’re saying. Every section of the Indian society is week in some way or the other. Women are not getting enough education, backward classes are not allowed to come forward, general classes, are now, suffering through this “reservation”. As you said, India is a diverse country. There’s no one society who’s getting affected, every other society is getting affected by every single thing.
I don’t think you need elaboration on this, or you want? Think on THIS now.
reservations are right but sometime it is wrong
Hey Neha! Thanks for stopping by! Short and simple… Thanks again for joining in!!
Do keep coming back.
Hey,
Thanks for submitting this blogpost for the Best blog post contest- http://achyutktelang.blogspot.com/2010/03/best-blo
A beautiful post and some valid points in here..I agree to some extent.
All the best
Hey Achyut! Thanks a lot!
sorry for the half link..it is- http://achyutktelang.blogspot.com/2010/03/best-blog-post-contest.html
Took inspiration from ‘The White Tiger’, did you?
I’m a woman but I agree with most of what you said here. I’m not in favour of this reservation, since,there are chances of it getting misused more than being helpful in bringing out any actual change.
We already have seen an example of ‘Rabri Devi’ where she was a mere pawn who took the seat. We’re only encouraging the birth of many more Rabri Devis. In our country where corruption is already a dreaded beast, this most certainly will give a boost to it.
NO! I haven’t took the idea from Araving Adiga’s book… LOL!
Voila! You’ve said what I was trying to explain in this article and comments… Thanks a lot!
Yeah I know about the Rabri Devi case… And I agree with you that we don’t want any more Rabri Devis in our political system!
Thanks for stopping by… Hope you’ll hang on with this blog in future!