How the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendment beneficial to women?
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The 73rd Constitutional Amendment has served as the institutional breakthrough towards ensuring equal access to and enhanced participation of rural women in the inclusive development through the participation of women in the local government at grassroot level. It is, here, attempted to highlight dynamics of the opportunities envisioned and outcomes realized; and the challenging realities encountered in the exercise of empowerment of rural women.
Panchayat denotes the institution of local government in rural area and Panchayti Raj Institutions (PRIs) refers to the three tiers of Panchayats- at the level of the village, block and district (Aiyar, 2007, p. 43). The introduction of Panchayat Raj, an institutional expression of the policy of decentralization was held as one of the most imaginative and institutional innovation made in India (Desmukh, 2001). The concept of Panchayat Raj is deeply entrenched in the process of strengthening the basic of democracy at the grassroot level by people’s participation.
Post independence, the journey of the Panchayati Raj Institutions has been the story of vicissitudes marking the enhancement, decline and stagnation period overlapping each other. In India, attempts at strengthening local democracy have invariably invoked the traditional self governing institutions of the village. Historically democratic these appeared though, these institutions, however, were never democratic as they were concealed forms of social prejudice, oppression and exploitation that were firmly rooted in local power structures. It was in recognition of these that B.R. Ambedkar argued strenuously in the Constituent Assembly against incorporating them into that Document. This is why the impulse for local self-government, embodied in Article 40, was placed in the non-justiciable Directive Principles of State Policy. After Independence, the idea of the revival of Panchayats was first mooted in the Balwantrai Mehta Committee Report (1957), which saw democratic decentralization as a way of making good the failures of the community development programme. Two decades later, the Ashok Mehta Committee Report on Panchayati Raj Institutions made far-reaching recommendations for the revival of Panchayats, which inspired at least a few states – notably, Karnataka, Kerala and West Bengal – to restructure their institutions of local government. At the national level, the initiative to give Constitutional status to Panchayati Raj was attempted by the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1989.
Women as women have been historically disadvantaged under the triple burdens; gender and caste/religion, overlaid with the power of patriarchy. The multiple disadvantages that mark the conditions of rural women, therefore, necessitated the process of empowering them. The Ninth Five Year Plan sought to adopt an integrated approach towards empowering women. This underscored harmonization of various efforts in different areas of social, economic, legal and political. It also recommended expeditious adoption of the national policy for empowering women, along with a well-defined gender development index to monitor the impact of its implementation in raising the status of women from time to time.
In the backdrop of this, finally, in April 1993, the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act came into effect. First time in the political history of India that one-third of the total seats in its local self government institutions have been statutorily reserved for women. This Amendment brought bright epoch in the life of deprived eight lakh rural women who were brought into mainstream of power (Desmukh, 2000, p. 195).
The 73rd Constitutional Amendment
The Amendment Bill, providing a constitutional status to the Panchayati Raj institutions, was passed by both Houses of Parliament in December 1992. Following its ratification by more than half the state Assemblies as required under the Constitution, the President of India gave his assent, and the same came into force as the Constitutional (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 on April 24, 1993, adding a new part to the Constitution, namely, Part IX titled “The Panchayats”.
Apart from adding a new section – Part IX – to the constitution, it also added the Eleventh Schedule, which lists the subjects on which powers may be devolved to the Panchayats. The Act required that the states pass conformity legislations within a specified time, and while it made some provisions that were mandatory and binding on the states, there were other enabling or discretionary provisions on which the states were – within broadly defined parameters – expected to legislate. Let us briefly examine the provisions of empowering rural women through this amendment; and its opportunities and outcomes.
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Panchayat denotes the institution of local government in rural area and Panchayti Raj Institutions (PRIs) refers to the three tiers of Panchayats- at the level of the village, block and district (Aiyar, 2007, p. 43). The introduction of Panchayat Raj, an institutional expression of the policy of decentralization was held as one of the most imaginative and institutional innovation made in India (Desmukh, 2001). The concept of Panchayat Raj is deeply entrenched in the process of strengthening the basic of democracy at the grassroot level by people’s participation.
Post independence, the journey of the Panchayati Raj Institutions has been the story of vicissitudes marking the enhancement, decline and stagnation period overlapping each other. In India, attempts at strengthening local democracy have invariably invoked the traditional self governing institutions of the village. Historically democratic these appeared though, these institutions, however, were never democratic as they were concealed forms of social prejudice, oppression and exploitation that were firmly rooted in local power structures. It was in recognition of these that B.R. Ambedkar argued strenuously in the Constituent Assembly against incorporating them into that Document. This is why the impulse for local self-government, embodied in Article 40, was placed in the non-justiciable Directive Principles of State Policy. After Independence, the idea of the revival of Panchayats was first mooted in the Balwantrai Mehta Committee Report (1957), which saw democratic decentralization as a way of making good the failures of the community development programme. Two decades later, the Ashok Mehta Committee Report on Panchayati Raj Institutions made far-reaching recommendations for the revival of Panchayats, which inspired at least a few states – notably, Karnataka, Kerala and West Bengal – to restructure their institutions of local government. At the national level, the initiative to give Constitutional status to Panchayati Raj was attempted by the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1989.
Women as women have been historically disadvantaged under the triple burdens; gender and caste/religion, overlaid with the power of patriarchy. The multiple disadvantages that mark the conditions of rural women, therefore, necessitated the process of empowering them. The Ninth Five Year Plan sought to adopt an integrated approach towards empowering women. This underscored harmonization of various efforts in different areas of social, economic, legal and political. It also recommended expeditious adoption of the national policy for empowering women, along with a well-defined gender development index to monitor the impact of its implementation in raising the status of women from time to time.
In the backdrop of this, finally, in April 1993, the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act came into effect. First time in the political history of India that one-third of the total seats in its local self government institutions have been statutorily reserved for women. This Amendment brought bright epoch in the life of deprived eight lakh rural women who were brought into mainstream of power (Desmukh, 2000, p. 195).
The 73rd Constitutional Amendment
The Amendment Bill, providing a constitutional status to the Panchayati Raj institutions, was passed by both Houses of Parliament in December 1992. Following its ratification by more than half the state Assemblies as required under the Constitution, the President of India gave his assent, and the same came into force as the Constitutional (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 on April 24, 1993, adding a new part to the Constitution, namely, Part IX titled “The Panchayats”.
Apart from adding a new section – Part IX – to the constitution, it also added the Eleventh Schedule, which lists the subjects on which powers may be devolved to the Panchayats. The Act required that the states pass conformity legislations within a specified time, and while it made some provisions that were mandatory and binding on the states, there were other enabling or discretionary provisions on which the states were – within broadly defined parameters – expected to legislate. Let us briefly examine the provisions of empowering rural women through this amendment; and its opportunities and outcomes.
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