A step in the right direction

The much awaited 33% reservation for women in the parliament is a welcome step in India’s effort to empower and emancipate women in the country.
It is heartening to see the ruling congress and the main opposition BJP coming together to support the bill in both the upper and lower houses of the parliament. There are discordant notes with the OBC leaders and minority parties making noise about reservation for women in their communities. This noise will not be a show stopper in passing the bill. Leaders like Lalu Yadav and Deve Gowda are the worst type of politicians and should be condemned to obscurity for their petty and narrow politics.
We need to wait and see for 2014 when the 33% reservation comes into effect, about 160+ women parliamentarians would be entering the hallowed halls of the parliament, hopefully bringing in the dignity that is lacking today.
As with any law there will be challenges in implementing the law in spirit since our scheming politicians will prop up their wives, relatives and children to fight the elections. In that sense the law will not be completely democratic since money is still required to fight elections, and it is the current gang of politicos who has all that. There will be a lot of remote control in action in the parliament.
It is up to the women parliamentarians to come into their own and bring out issues that are important for their ilk. Data shows Indian women lagging on all fronts with respect to education, health, employment etc. I guess Africa is the only other continent that fares worse.
It is a step in the right direction though much delayed.