2010 - are we moving ahead or going back..??

26th Jan 2010, 10:00 am.

as the nation celebrates its 61st Republic day, i was just trying to catch up with the ongoing republic day parade in the morning. All i could see on the television screen was a typical Dilli-foggy morning. But it has always been a family tradition to wake up early (9:30 is too early to wake up on a holiday) to turn on the television screen and switch to Doordarshan to watch the Republic day parade.

It makes me proud to be a part of the largest democracy of the world but i must admit at the same time that we are certainly not the best democracy in the world. If democracy means only a system where people elect their representatives to form the government, then ours is really a true democracy. But people like Mr. Raj Thackrey play smart politics to make fool of people.

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9th Mar 2010, 6:00 pm.

The long awaited women's reservation bill has been passed from Rajya Sabha. The country has taken a big step by allowing women a real say in the governance and provide 33% reservation in parliament and state assemblies. When passed, this bill will change the political landscape of the nation by helping women reach the place which other wise remains a male bastion. This Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on September 12, 1996. Though it has been introduced in Parliament several times since then, the Bill could not be passed because of lack of political consensus. But why did this take so long to pass a bill of such high importance ? How has this been possible now ?

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@ease says: 

In democracy, every one has equal right, then why reservation ? As the world is moving ahead, would this really help ? Are we really moving ahead ?

Women who have proved time and again that they are at par with men. More than reservation, they need education, empowerment and uplifting. Reservation is not a solution to empower women. Legislation may help to some extent but what needs to change is the mindset of people in our country. To administer a country, we need merit, not reservation. I wish this Bill is not mis-utilized, as in the past we have seen the uneducated wife of an ex-CM take-over his post solely on the merit of her husband.