Mentor’s Comments-
- Give a brief context of the political representation of women in India.
- Mention the issues related to providing reservation to women in political institutions.
- Give arguments against this proposal.
- Conclude with a way forward.
No. 1 UPSC IAS Platform for preparation
Mentor’s Comments-
Reservation for women perpetuates a “proxy culture’’ as seen in the phenomenon of “sarpanch patis”. In this context, discuss whether reservation can address the issue of poor participation of women in Indian politics. (15 Marks)
Hello
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Your knowledge is good, but I think you have diverted a bit from what has been asked. Issue of poor participation is a known fact, you don’t need to mention causes for that nor the question is asking for that. Just mention some data regarding under-representation of women, for example, 14% in Lok Sabha, and that is enough. You need to discuss whether reservation is going to solve the issue or not.
Introduction is fine, present some data to show poor participation.
Benefits of reservation are mentioned, that is good, further you can add points such as female representation on village Councils increased responsiveness to concerns such as drinking water, infrastructure, sanitation, and roads etc; could help them fight the abuse, discrimination etc; representative democracy; inspiration for other women etc
Next mention, some negatives such as they would not be perceived to be
competing on merit; mostly helps women of elitist groups gain political power; diverts attention from the larger issues of electoral reform such as criminalisation of politics and inner-party democracy etc
Before concluding, you can mention a way forward where you can talk about ensuring reservation within political parties; bringing change in value system prevalent in politics through education
and gender sensitisation; organizing awareness and leadership development programmes for women etc
Conclusion is decent.
Keep practicing. 🙂