In a fast-changing India, women and youth need greater representation and scope for decision-making in public life. It will be welcome if, as expected, gender and youth issues figure big in the Congress’s upcoming Jaipur meeting.
Following widespread protests over gender crimes, the party will do well to focus on women’s safety. But rather than merely repeat calls for new laws, the debate must be about concrete revamp of our dilatory justice delivery system.
What should emanate from the Congress conclave is a real commitment to long-pending police and judicial reforms, and a clear timeline for these urgent tasks. Nor will mere avowals of its intention to push the women’s reservation Bill do. While under-representation of women in legislatures is an ugly reality, this Bill’s floundered till now owing to lack of consensus and political will to get it off the ground. This has allowed politicians of all stripes to pay lip service to gender parity while trading charges over the Bill’s delayed enactment. If the Congress genuinely wants more women to enter politics, it must start in-house by distributing tickets to sizeable numbers of meritorious women poll candidates. Going down well with women voters, this will pressure other parties to follow suit.
It’s said the Youth Congress, inspired by Rahul Gandhi, intends to ask hard questions of the party top brass. In its view senior party leaders should answer for their poll nominees’ performance and office-bearers such as general secretaries and state Congress chiefs for the party’s show in their domains. These are fruitful ideas, provided they go along with an undertaking to give young politicians positions of real authority in the party and UPA government. So far, Rahul himself seems reluctant to relinquish his rather freewheeling status within the ruling establishment and assume a well-defined leadership role. Overall, fresh blood is yet to be infused in a big way in party or government.
With all eyes on 2014, delay here will prove costly. Besides promoting a gender-sensitive administration and corruption-free service delivery, the Congress must give star billing to dynamic, articulate communicators who can take reforms to the people, even targeting certain measures like cash transfers at women in needy households. Who better to combat populism than GenNext politicians in sync with modern-day aspirations? To deepen democracy via inclusive growth, 21st century India must spread education, health, infrastructure and economic opportunities to equip ever-larger numbers of youth for gainful employment and grassroots entrepreneurship. That’s the message that must beam out from the Jaipur brainstorm.
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