Ambedkar. Bharat Ratna Babasaheb Dr BR Ambedkar, 135 [14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956]. Double Doctorate. Economist, Professor, Lawyer. Chairman, Constitution of India drafting committee; ‘Principal Architect’ of Indian Constitution. The first draft of the Constitution was by Sir Benegal Narsing Rau. Some of Ambedkar’s books include: ‘Annihilation of Caste’; ‘who were the Shudras?’; The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India; The Problem of the Rupee: Its Origin and Its Solution; The Buddha and His Dhamma.
Vaishali R. Won the FIDE Women’s Candidates, to challenge for Women’s World Championship.
Women’s Reservation in Parliament and state legislatures, Constituency delimitation exercise. Today only 14% members of Lok Sabha are women. This needs to be at least 33%. Why is this to be clubbed with increase in seats and delimitation? Why do we need to increase the number of MPs? MLAs? Why does the base for seat delimitation have to be taken to the 2011, or 2027 census? When we already have 33% seats reserved for women in local governments, why can’t we take it to state and central legislatures? Do we really require more seats? Why 850? How do we incentivize the regions which responded to the national mandate to stabilize population? How do we reserve seats, one time identification or recurring identification? Sub-reservations, how do they get identified? If we have the women reservation bill already passed more or less unanimously in Lok Sabha in 2023, and in Rajya Sabha now, why cannot we just go ahead to implement it? How quickly can we complete the delimitation exercise?
Will it ensure adequate representation of various geographies, communities, and groups? Not skewed. If we adhere to the original constitutional norm of 750,000 per seat, can we afford to have so many Lok Sabha seats, 2000 or so? Or can we delimit such a manner that all seats have more or less equal people, and no state loses its current number? Can we encourage the states to campaign families to have more children? Can we be more federal in character, rather than unitary? Can we have a majority share of revenue in the hands of the states? Can we have more subjects in the hands of the states? Can we have more states in the country? No state should be having 5 or 10% seats in Lok Sabha. Do we need law makers, if they stick to this mandate, in more numbers? How do we preserve our foundational block of democracy – One Person, One Vote, One Value? Equal value of MP? How do we ensure Parliament sits for at least some 100 days a year, with most MPs in attendance? Debates, reviews, policy-law making, planning and budgeting and tracking progress. Will more MPs mean more meaningful debates?
Don’t we need these issues decided through consensus? Not political one-upmanship, brute majorities, or constitutional vetoes. If this does not happen, delimitation may have to be taken up based on the 2027 census, leading to low population growth states losing out clearly.
Can we save 10-20% on a recurring basis? Can we have some skills, survival skills, living skills, and livelihood skills? Can we have the courage to live, with our heads high? Can we have fun, time and happiness? Can we enjoy our own company? Can we eat well, eat right? Can we have enough earnings to live life with dignity and respect, without fear? Can we be simple, humble, ordinary with extraordinary will, stamina, independence, kindness, and wisdom? Usefulness to the world.
Yes, we can. If we coexist, flowing. Blend of ordinary-extraordinary. In N? maanyayoga for 7L.