Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a "special

For the record, for the first time, we saw six out of seven women ministers sworn in with cabinet rank and heading front-line
ministries such as External Affairs, and
Commerce and Industry. Yet, does this
translate into political participation for
women in elected bodies? The true test lies in his ability to use the two-thirds majority that he now commands in the Lower House to ensure a swift and decisive passage of the Constitution Amendment Bill providing 33% reservation for women in state Assemblies and Parliament.


Even more telling is the recent address of
the Prime Minister to the Dalit community of Kerala on the occasion of the birth
anniversary of Kerala's social reformer
Ayyankali, where he stated that since the
Constitutional right for equality for Dalits
had not been realised, it was all the more
vital to strengthen social harmony and socialacceptance. Undoubtedly, social harmony is important but more important is theaccountability to law. We need to see thatprosecutions conducted under the ScheduledCaste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, do not get withdrawn as had happened in Maharashtra at the
behest of the Shiv Sena earlier, and the
perpetrators do not go scot-free.
Today, though we have many more
women in Parliament than earlier, they are nowhere near the 33% representation mark, which is recognised the world over as thevery basic representation for a group thatcomprises 49% of the population. It would not be an exaggeration to state that the
entire political system conspired to
"legitimise" our state of under-representation
while opposing the Reservation Bill. Not eventhe most shocking and dastardly of crimes
against women shook their conscience oremboldened some of them to speak up andadmit their own collective failure in building a truly diverse and accountable India. Surely, it is there for everyone to see that such gross under-representation impacts priorities and sensitivities.

The need of the hour is to move beyond
emotive posturing about women's issues
and draw up a road map for accountability and enable 33% representation of women in all elected bodies.