NEWS Bihar government recently announced 33% horizontal reservation for women in State engineering and medical colleges.

CONTEXT 

• There are two types of reservations – Horizontal reservation and Vertical reservation.
• Reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) is referred to as vertical reservation.
  • Bihar at present has 60% reservation in the State higher educational institutions along the six vertical categories (SCs, STs, EWS and so on).
• On the other hand, horizontal reservation refers to the equal opportunity provided to other categories of beneficiaries, such as women, veterans, the transgender community, and individuals with disabilities, cutting through the vertical categories.
  • Horizontal reservation for women in Bihar will be distributed across all the vertical categories, including the non-reserved 40% seats open to all.
• The Vertical reservation for women is in line with Article 15(3) of the Constitution which allows governments to make special provisions for women and children.

BENEFIT OF VERTICAL RESERVATION FOR WOMEN 

• • Vertical reservation, if properly implemented, can become an important driver for improving the FLFP (female labour force participation) rate. FLFP is consistently declining and is worryingly low.
    • World Bank data show that the FLFP came down to 21% in 2019 from 31.79% in 2005. 

• FLFP rate is even problematic in Bihar. Only 6.4% and 3.9% women were employed in the urban and rural areas of Bihar compared to the all-India figures of 20.4% and 24.6% respectively.

• Patriarchal control of women and systemic gender discrimination cannot be defeated by government intervention alone; State welfare schemes can go a long way in challenging them.

STEP TAKEN IN BIHAR FOR EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN 

In the last three decades, Bihar has implemented various initiatives to empower women and improve their representation in various fields. 

• In 1992, Bihar had announced two consecutive days of menstrual leave for women employees in government services. 
• In 2006, Bihar became the first State to reserve 50% seats for women in Panchayati Raj institutions even though the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution which came into force in 1993, mandated only one-third seats for them. 
• In 2013, the Bihar government made a provision for 50% reservation for women in cooperative societies and reserved 35% seats for them in police recruitment. 
  • Reservation in police recruitment for women led to a swift jump in the number of women officers in the police department to 25.3% in 2020, more than double the national average of 10.3%, from 3.3% in 2015.
• In 2016, the government extended the 35% reservation for women to all government jobs in Bihar for which direct recruitment is made.
• In 2006, Bihar government launched Mukhyamantri Balika Cycle Yojana for Class 9 and 10 girl students which provided for a conditional cash transfer programme for secondary education of girls. 
  • The scheme helped in enhancing  enrolment of girl students and encouraged girls to complete education and delay marriage. 

WAY AHEAD 

• • Horizontal reservation for the women in Bihar is a laudable step. However, the government should also take steps to deal with low female literacy rate and FLFP rate.

• The government should also do away with hiring workers on contract and make all the current contractual workers permanent.

• India Human Development Survey-II found that women with low levels of education and from rural areas are relatively more active in the labour market compared to women with middle or high school education. 
  • Therefore, the Bihar government also needs to ensure that women don’t fall out of the labour market as they become more educationally qualified.
• The Bihar government should also extend the engineering and medical quota for women to all institutions of higher education, including private colleges and universities. 
• Also quota allotted to Women can be increased to 40-45%, if not 50%, and the category can be renamed as ‘women and transgender persons’. 
• Other State governments and the Union government should follow the Bihar government’s lead and introduce horizontal quota for women (and in addition, for transgender persons) in higher educational institutions as well as State employment as these measures will go a long way in reducing gender disparity in the country. 

Reference:

1. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/providing-horizontal-quota-the-bihar-way/article35708537.ece