Goal of 50 %Women Judges is a Mere Will-o-Wisp

Goal of 50 %Women Judges is a Mere Will-o-Wisp

Hon’ble Chief Justice of India NV Ramna, the other day, while inaugurating a meet of the women advocates and judges in the Supreme Court gave a very call that they must unite and scream for 50 per cent reservation in the judiciary. Paraphrasing Karl Marx, he said that ‘women of the world unite as they have nothing to lose but their chains. It is nothing but romanticizing of the women’s struggle. It cannot be said to be a reasonable and judicious call by any yardstick. Women cannot be compared with workers of any industrial house, who can be exhorted for class struggle. Women come from a different socio-economic milieu like their men counterparts, they cannot be expected to come on the roads and fight for 50 per cent reservation.

The Hon’ble Chief Justice furnished some startling data like out of 17 lakh lawyers across the country, only 15 per cent are women. The number of judges in the subordinate judiciary is about 30 per cent, in the High Courts and the Supreme Court, it is slightly more than 11 per cent.

Now the question that arises here is that if there are only 15 per cent women in lawyering, how can it be made 50 per cent in the appointment of judges across the board? Can the country afford to have second-rate judges and spoil the standard of justice in its zeal to achieve the objective of 50 per cent judges? The reply is an emphatic NO.

As a matter of fact, we have to create an atmosphere, which should attract a large number of women towards the legal profession, nay to all professions. The standard of education has to be elevated; facilities need to be upgraded. The conducive environment and proper facilities are to be developed to attract more women to the judiciary or for that matter any other profession. There is no doubt that quite a substantial number of women are doing extremely well in the profession. Many of them do not want to go to the judicial services because of multiple obstacles and compulsions. Some of them are related to their families and they need to be addressed with the active cooperation of the Bar, Judiciary, Government, and above all the society.

So long, it is not done, it will be like a wild goose chase. Neither the quality of justice will be improved nor the desired goal of increasing the number of judges will be achieved.

Demand of Caste Census is Preposterous: Firmly Reject it

 

These days the demand for caste census is being raised particularly in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, where the politics usually revolves around castes. The irony is that it is being demanded by those, who claim to be the votary of the casteless society. There is ample testimony that the socialists, led by Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, have been the real progenitor of caste politics in the country. Instead of making any positive efforts for the establishment of the casteless society, they almost spent their whole energy in perpetuating this social evil.

The Congress Party did not lag behind in exploiting caste politics to remain in power for long years. In fact, it not only encouraged casteism but also made all efforts to appease the minorities so as to remain ensconced in power. Some political leaders think that it will provide them with the opportunity to make further demands for reservations in government jobs and educational institutions on the basis of the castes. This demand has become more intense and vigorous particularly after the decision of the Modi government to provide ten per cent reservation to the weaker section among high caste Hindus.

This idea of caste census is fraught with innumerable dangers for the unity of the country as it will pour oil on the fire being smouldered by fissiparous elements, which are presently dormant for many reasons but mainly due to the strong government at the Centre. Assuming that the proposal for caste census is accepted then what will be its fallout? Will it stop at that? No, never.

If the caste census is done, then the caste leaders will again ask that the reservation should be done as per the proportion of the population of the particular caste. For example, the Yadav will say that since their number is more than Kurmi or Kushwaha in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, therefore, they must get more reservations than others. This will ultimately lead to the caste war in different parts of the country. Once the caste war has started civil war will not be far away. It will be difficult for any government to handle it, giving the opportunity of rejoicing to the enemies of the country, who will do everything to fan it.

This also demonstrates how myopic our leaders are, who do not believe in the universal progress of all groups of society. They want to further drive a wedge among different castes causing a hugely deleterious impact on our cohesive social fabric. Therefore, the government must reject this dangerous demand with all firmness that it possesses.