Events & Issues

New Delhi, 17 November 2008

Women Empowerment

KARGIL SHOWS THE WAY

By Sant Sharma

Many States in the country have an adverse male-female ratio in almost all walks of life in our country. Female infanticide, dowry, preference for male child and such other things have contributed to this adverse ratio. Of course, things are changing, for the better, but the pace of change leaves a lot to be desired.

The State of Jammu & Kashmir too is no different. For the Assembly elections now underway, the electorate comprises a total of 65, 37,821 voters, of which the males account for 33, 85,147 and the female voters 31, 52,441. Thus, there are 2,32,706 less female voters as compared to male voters, approximately 7 per cent less than their male counterparts in the State.

Amid all this, the State’s Kargil district (which went to the polls on Monday, 17 November) stands out as a shining example of women empowerment at the grassroots level, by way of enfranchisement. The district boasts of more female than male voters. Retaining its special ‘women first’ status as in the earlier Assembly poll in 2002.

In an electorate of 78,117 in Kargil, the number of female voters is 39,347 and 38,770 male voters. In other words, there are 577 more female voters in the district than males. In fact, female voters outnumber the male voters in both the constituencies of the district, Kargil and Zanskar. Making the Kargil district an unique as a model of women’s empowerment at the grassroots level.

In the Kargil constituency the 58,073 electorate is made up of 29,243 female and 28,830 male voters. Thus there are 413 more of the fairer sex. In Zanskar also, the number of female voters outstrip their male counterparts, albeit by a very small margin of 164. With a total electorate of 20,044, the number of female voters is 10,104 as compared to 9,940

Besides, of the 22 districts in the State, 10 districts each in the geographical regions of Jammu and Kashmir and two in Ladakh, Kargil is the only one having this unique and extraordinary distinction. Perhaps no other district in the entire north India, in any of the States like Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal enjoys this distinction.

Usually, the word Kargil brings back memories of the India-Pakistan conflict of 1999 when Pakistani intruders walked miles into the Indian territory leading to skirmishes which gradually grew into what came to be known later as the Kargil war.

The sharp focus that the war brought on Kargil helped it in some measure. The infusion of funds for development enabled it to change the landscape. Wherein, the benefits started reaching the most backward areas within the district.

Paradoxically, the number of voters in Kargil has dropped in the last six years. From an electorate of 87,438 in the 2002 Assembly elections, the number of voters in the ongoing poll has come down to 78,117, a decline of 9,321 voters.

Significantly, most elections in Kargil are keenly contested with the polling percentage remaining fairly high. According to the J&K State Information Department, the polling percentage in the last Assembly elections was a record as 75.91. Of a total electorate of 87,438 voters in 2002, no less than 66,370 had taken the trouble to visit their respective polling booths to exercise their franchise. This percentage was far better than many developed and urbanized areas of the State.

The number of voters in Zanskar too went down from 22,792 in 2002 to 20,044 in 2008, a decline of 2,748 in a span of six years. For the same period, the size of the electorate in the Kargil constituency also shrunk from 64,646 to 58,073, a decline of 6,573 voters. Recall, in 1996, the total electorate in Kargil was 71,241 and no less than 57,262 cast their votes. This translated into a very high polling percentage of 80.38.

Importantly, most of the Parties in the electoral fray have included tall promises about women empowerment in their respective manifestos. Farooq and Omar Abdullah’s National Conference (NC) has promised to introduce reservation for women in the State Assembly in its Vision Document. It is another matter that only two women have so far got the Party’s mandate to fight the elections to the 87-member Assembly.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of Mohammed Sayeed and his daughter Mehbooba is no different when it comes to talking about women empowerment. In its self-rule document (purportedly its manifesto for the polls), the PDP has also said that it wants women to be empowered. Notwithstanding, that Mehbooba as the PDP’s President hasn’t given enough tickets to women candidates for contesting the elections.

The Congress also hasn’t given any ticket to a woman candidate so far, which has angered its leaders some of whom have threatened to enter the poll fray as rebel candidates.    

That apart, the high number of female voters in Kargil, however, holds out a beacon of hope. Clearly, this sorry state of affairs can’t continue indefinitely. There is optimism in the State for women’s empowerment through the ballot. ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)