ActioAid India programme manager Gouthami has quoted such instances heavilyfrom media reports and other sources in her report, Debating reservation forwomen in India. Gouthami's report is part of ActionAid India's 27th studycompilation. ActionAid India is an associate of the South Asia Caucus basedin Bangalore which focusses on various socio-economic issues including foodsecurity, community health and women's problems.

Gouthami, however, does not quite seem to draw her own conclusions. Instead,she has compiled a lot of opinions in the matter drawn widely from varioussources, mostly niche magazines and publications and media reports.

Nevertheless, the introduction to the paper cautiously mentions that ``theimpact of reservations needs to be fully understood and the country preparedto handle it before it is implemented''.

That is, according to Gouthami, because ``it is simplistic to draw on theexperience with reservations at the local level and apply it at the stateand national levels. Besides, it is too early to draw any conclusions aboutthe experience at the local level. Reservation for women is not an aim initself. It needs to be part of the larger fight for justice andequity...''

``The women's movement needs to conduct a debate at all levels and arrive atsome conclusion. Right now, the debate is limited to some politicians and afew feminists. There is no coherence yet,'' is all Gouthami says inconclusion. In fact, she cannot be possibly more conclusive either. That isbecause of both the enormity of the problem and the limitations of variousplayers in the decision-making process.

In her own words, Gouthami's ``paper attempts to look at some of the debatesaround the issue of reservations for women in Parliament and the stateassemblies in India. The first section looks at the history of the debatefrom the 1920s to date....The issue that was used to derail the Women'sReservation Bill in Parliament was that of reservations for the oppressedwithin women's reservation.''

To overcome the political hurdle being faced in Parliament, Gouthami quotescertain suggestions made in this regard as an alternative. For instance,``One school of thought believes that there should be a quota imposed onpolitical parties, voluntarily or legally, to field more women candidatesrather than have reservations at the level of Parliament.'' In this context,Madhu Kishwar of Manushi is quoted: ``How can 33 per cent reservation forwomen...work if there aren't enough women active in parties; if the partiesdon't have enough viable candidates to field?''

Quota system at the parliamentary level was not successful while introducedin Nepal, the Philippines and the erstwhile Soviet Union whereas in certainScandinavian countries it was successful when it was initiated at the localgovernment level, says Gouthami.

Noted media person Tavleen Singh has been quoted as saying that ``if all thepolitical parties are so serious about the Bill, they should start byfielding 33 per cent women candidates.'' However, social activist BrindaKarat ``is cynical and feels that to hope for voluntary quotas withinpolitical parties is naive.''

Gouthami has quoted about 20 sources from various niche publications in herstudy to drive home the point that no political party is practically seriousabout reservations for women. All the same, the fact that it would bepolitically incorrect to oppose reservations for women is also broughtabout. With this kind of paradoxical scenario what everyone is aiming at isto defer a decision as long as there can be such a deferment.

That is how the issue of women's reservation has been on the back burnerthough the history of the issue dates back to Mahatma Gandhi's time.Gouthami traces that history when a small beginning was sought to be made asfar back as 1920 when three-odd percentage seat reservation was offeredalong with the right to vote. However, Women's Movement rejected the offeron the pretext that they did not need any favours from anybody.

The demand nevertheless used to crop up off and on. Like it did in 1974 whenthe Committee on the Status of Women (CSW) was putting up its report. Againduring Rajiv Gandh's regime, he attempted to pass the 64th amendment to theConstitution. The intention of the 64th amendment was to bring inreservation of one-third of the seats for women in panchayats in 1989. Thenagain, in spite of his having 80 per cent of seats in the Lok Sabha, the64th amendment fell through.