September 21, 2023
Dola Sen’s speech on The Constitution (128th) Amendment Bill, 2023 (Women’s Reservation Bill) in the Rayja Sabha
Thank you, Chairman Sir, for allowing me to speak on Women’s Reservation Bill in my mother tongue, Bangla, and thanks to my Party, All India Trinamool Congress, and my respected leader, hon. Mamata Banerjee, for giving me a chance to be in the Council of States, Rajya Sabha, for the third term so that I get a chance to take part in policy-making debates over here. After governing for about 9.5 years, suddenly just on the eve of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the present ruling party has started to rush with the Constitution amendment. Yesterday, Lok Sabha sat late till about 10 pm. Rajya Sabha may also sit late today. बुरा मत मािनएगा, बंगला मेंएक कहावत है- * इलेक्शन का कम्पलशन है, भाई! Somehow, the Opposition unity and I.N.D.I.A. alliance have made the Treasury Benches worried. So these are back to back election stances. New Parliament House was inaugurated. हमारी तो आदत ही हो गई थी िक �धान मं�ी जी संसद आतेहैं, लेिकन हाउस के अंदर बहुत कम आतेहैं, हाउस के अंदर और भी कम बोलतेहैं। वह दु:ख भी इस बार पहले दो िदनों मेंउनको चार बार सुननेके बाद चला गया। िवमेंस िरज़व�शन को लेकर नारी श�क्त वंदन कहकर इसको पास कराना है।We would appreciate it. Better late than never. साढ़ेनौ साल ही सही, थोड़ी िवल�म्बत सोच ही सही, we will certainly support the Women’s Reservation Bill in this House with all our criticism. But one thing; the way in which from both the Houses of Parliament, it is being claimed that the sole credit for this goes to the Treasury Benches and Modiji, I am sorry to say, but this is not just their credit. The process had started way back. In the year 1992, the Bill to reserve one-third seats for women in the Panchayat and Municipalities was passed in the Parliament. Women’s Reservation Bill to reserve seats in Lok Sabha and Assemblies was never passed before. In 1996, Smt. Gita Mukherjee of CPI had presented this Bill in Parliament. But it was not passed then. Thereafter, the Joint Parliamentary Committee which was constituted for the purpose was headed by Smt. Gita Mukherjee. Our leader, Mamata Banerjee was also a member of the Committee. She had raised this demand in the year 1998 and many times thereafter also. In 2010, though it was passed in Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha could not pass it. The role of Sushma Swaraji ji is also worth mentioning with regard to this Bill. हम तहे- िदल से गीता दीदी, सुषमा जी और दीदी को नमन करना चाहते हैं। Secondly, though because of compulsion of election, it will be passed now, but it will not be implemented instantly. Unfortunately, the census which is to be conducted every 10 years and which is due since 2021, has not been conducted as yet by this government. मोदी है, तो मुमिकन है, इसीिलए तो सेंसस और उसके साथ-साथ delimitation आिद सब वषर् 2026 के बाद होगा। वषर् 2027, 2028 या 2029 भी हो सकता है, और देर भी हो सकती है। यह नारी श�क्त वंदन पास करा कर और एक जुमला तो नहीं बन जाएगा? जैसेएनपीआर, एनआरसी, सीएए को ज़बरदस्ती पास करा िदया गया, जबिक उनमेंimplementation करनेका दम नहीं है। वह एक जुमला बन गया है। िकसान िबल के िलए सबको सस्पेंड करके पास करा िदया, िफर वह वापस revoke हो गया, वह भी एक जुमला बन कर रह गया। लेबर कोड को पास करा कर अभी �ल फॉम�शन नहीं करनेका जुमला बन गया। काला धन वापस होगा, यह एक जुमला बन गया। हर व्य�क्त के बैंक अकाउंट में15 लाख �पयेदेनेका जुमला, साल मेंदो करोड़ नौकिरयां देनेका जुमला – क्या इस िलस्ट मेंयह िवमेंस िरज़व�शन भी जुड़ेगा? डर लगता है। We are afraid, very afraid. We believe that women are half the sky. But half the population is suffering like anything. Most of them are reeling below the poverty line. These women have not been able to enjoy the necessities of life. Thus, the economics of every household has reached its nadir now, in the last 50 years. The ordinary women are in deep crisis today. During demonetization, our harassed countrymen had to queue-up in front of the banks, about 150 people lost their lives in the process. However, each and every penny which had been safely deposited in the piggy banks of our mothers or grandmothers, money which had been saved under the pillows, quilts and mattresses could not be exchanged. Thus, demonetization had hit the women folk most adversely. During Covid period, mostly the women had lost their jobs. They have been devastated. The women employees of BSNL, SAIL, BHEL and Railways bore the brunt of the new policies of privatization, corporatization and disinvestment. The profitable PSUs have been sold out and women were impacted adversely due to that. Therefore, only reservation is not enough. Women have to be brought in the forefront at every step. So, employment opportunities for women, social dignity and respect everywhere – all these are equally significant. Overall, in the name of women empowerment, only providing Ujjwala gas connections, 5kg food grains, toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission and Janadhan or Mudra schemes and calling women as goddesses is not sufficient. To empower women 24/7, I would request the Treasury Benches to please visit Bengal. We have our Didi there. Learn from her. That will be useful for the people of the country, particularly for the women. Emulating Didi’s ‘Kanyasree’ scheme, “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” was introduced. “Ayushman Bharat” was inspired by her ‘Swasthya Sathi’ scheme. “PM Kisan Nidhi” was inspired by her ‘Krishak Bondhu’. Similarly to learn how to worship women power, take lessons from her, please. She is not the only woman Chief Minister of the country today, in 27 years she became MP for 7 times, became Minister for 6 times, and now continuously for the 3rd term, she is the Chief Minister of Bengal. She came up from the lower rungs of the society after immense suffering; she was beaten but she did not die, didn’t give up. She struggled, she fought and passed BA. MA, LLB, not as a daughter or wife of any politician but on her own, due to her grit and talent. Now she is hailed as a social reformer after providing the basic necessities of life enshrined in the Constitution like food, clothing, shelter, education, health facilities and has touched the lives of millions of people. In our Bengal, not only 33% reservation in Panchayat and municipalities is there but we have 50% reservation for half of the population. In Lok Sabha and Assembly, the reservation is beyond 33%, it’s almost 40-45%. आप मेरा reference भी लेसकतेहैं, mainstream politics में, male dominated Trade Union में, दीदी नेमुझेिपछले12 साल में10 बरस स्टेट �ेिज़डेंट और 2 साल सेज्यादा समय सेऑल इंिडया �ेिज़डेंट बना रखा है। I am honoured. यह उदाहरण भी काफी नहीं है। In our social sector, for women and also for others, whatever has been done has never been done anywhere in the world. Five most important foundations of women empowerment at the international level are education, health, security, finance and emotion. Let me cite an example. When a lady becomes pregnant, through ‘Matri Maa’ portal, her health gets tracked and, in the process, approximately 1.25 crore women undergo regular checkup, 7.5 lakh mothers are provided with all kinds of medical assistance. By encouraging birth of babies in the hospitals instead of homes, maternal mortality has been arrested to a great extent. In 2011, the rate of institutional delivery was 68.10% which has been increased to 99%. Thus, maternal mortality rate has come down from 117 in 2011 to 109, much below the national average of 113. In the ICDS centres, along with 70 lakh children, 13 lakh pregnant women and new mothers get cooked nutritious food for 26 days every month. Under ‘Kanyasree’ scheme, from October 2013 in K-1 every year, Rs.1,000/- for 5 years, in K-2 Rs. 25,000/- as one-time grant at the age of 18 years, in K-3 at the university level, Rs.300 crores as scholarship for higher education have already been spent. Under ‘Ruposree’ scheme, Rs. 25,000/- is given as one time grant for marriage of poor and middle-class girls and till this date, 15 lakh girls have already benefitted. 27 lakh widows get widow pension of Rs. 1,000/- per month. Out of 16 lakh beneficiaries of old age pension, 15 lakhs are women. Earlier, they used to get only Rs.300- 400. Now they are getting Rs.1000. Under ‘Lakhhir Bhandar’ scheme, from the age of 25 years till 60 years, monthly grant is given on account of which about Rs. 8000 crores have been spent in the fiscal year 2022-23. Under ‘SwasthyaSathi’ Programme, the name of the senior most lady of the family is registered. She and her family members receive medical assistance to the tune of Rs. 5 lakhs. There are 12 lakh self help groups which are self-reliant. 10,88,000 self help groups have received Rs. 88,848 crores so far. To maintain the law and order situation and particularly for the safety of women, 49 new women police stations have been set up. Under ‘Sayamsidhha’ Scheme, 40,000 self-help groups have been created who are ready to defend themselves. ‘Karmanjali’ hostels have been built for the working women at various places. That is why it is said that ‘what Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow’, i.e., Bharat thinks tomorrow. Not only Bengal. You should also learn from the schemes like free public transport for ladies in Delhi, ‘Grihalakshmi’ scheme of Karnataka, Skill Development programmes of Punjab. If you follow the initiatives of Didi of Bengal and partner states of I.N.D.I.A alliance, the women of the country will be able to forge ahead. Amrit Kaal is being talked about. In this context, let me remind you that the women had played an unforgettable role in the freedom struggle of the country. Thus, not only founding fathers, but founding mothers also are no less in numbers. Your predecessors may not have participated in the freedom movement in large numbers. Even then, let me say that this women worship or women empowerment can be dedicated to the distinguished, unforgettable women leaders of the nation who had sacrificed everything for their motherland. Can’t we do that? The government should think about it. Let me flag another issue of great shame and misfortune. Manipur is the only state of the country where women reservation is already 50% for a long time. But in that empowered state, mothers and sisters are being disrespected. Their rights to life, civil liberties are being trampled upon. Six months have passed. When will the double engine government take charge? I will conclude by supporting this Bill and quoting Rabindranath Tagore, who had written for all of us; “Shying away in hesitation is self-humiliation Never be cowed down by imaginary crisis. Free yourself from fear Unleash inner strength and be victorious.” Thank you.”
