In her letter “A delayed social correction?” (Radiance, 18-24 May) Farzana Nigar has failed to analyse the issue of women’s reservation by not going into depth of the case. She simply trots out what the Brahminical national media has been propagating all these days. This illustrates the power of media.
The author should know that reservation is an instrument to correct social imbalances. It is necessary only to help in empowering un-empowered group. As social inequality is more visible among women, the unconditional reservation for women in Parliament is more likely to increase the power gap between haves and have-nots. This may also result in further reducing representation of under-represented sections of society. Because of these reasons the venture, in present form, is being seen as a political maneuver by the higher class to regain their over-representation in the House which they have steadily lost to other groups.
There is also a demand to provide separate quota for Muslim women in proportion to their population and degree of backwardness, thus to bring substantial advancement in their status. Indeed, for decades Muslim women have been portrayed as an utterly neglected lot, having no role to play in policy making. There is always discussion on the deprivation of Muslim women. Now, such concerns for Muslim women are put to serious test.
M Naushad Ansari
New Delhi