MP diary: Chouhan's 50 percent quota for women and a woman of substance

by Chandna C Arora The 50 percent jolt As the BJP stood routed in Karnataka, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan made a public announcement: 50 percent of party tickets for the assembly elections would be given to women. This has set the cat among the pigeons. “Mahilaon ka adhik se adhik yogdan sarkar mein ho isliye yah nirnaya liya gaya hai. Ab mahila raaj karengi aur purush ghar baithenge (This is decided so more and more women can participate in government. Now the women will rule and the men will sit at home)", he said at a public rally in Hoshangabad in the presence of senior party leader Sushma Swaraj recently. [caption id=“attachment_781659” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Will Chouhan take back his words? AFP[/caption] There is talk that recent survey reports have painted a grim prospect for many of the top-rung male leaders in the coming election. Chauhan wants to pump fresh blood into the BJP ahead of assembly elections through women candidates. Going by his track record, nobody is taking him lightly. He is the first CM in the country to enact a law reserving 50 percent of seats in local body institutions for women. Obviously, the male ticket aspirants are not amused. If Chauhan sticks to his words then there would be 115 women candidates in the fray. This could translate into many male candidates literally sitting at home. However, after the initial flutter there are efforts from the BJP to play down his announcement. State BJP president Narendra Singh Tomar, while professing that the party would field “women candidates capable of winning elections”, refrained from committing whether 50 percent of seats would go to women candidates. Then there are anonymous sources in the MP government who clarify that the chief minister has made no promise to set aside that many tickets for women. Sensing the discomfiture in the ruling party, the opposition Congress has pounced on it with senior leader Ajay Singh, saying that Chauhan must clarify. “Is it for assembly seats or did he speak of the existing women’s quota in the state for local body elections. If he is talking of local bodies, then he promises nothing new, for the quota already exists,” Singh said. Now, it’s up to Shivraj Singh Chouhan to respond.   Gujarat’s loss, MP’s gain What caused great heartburn to Narendra Modi and Gujarat State Board for Wildlife (GSBWL), is fast becoming a lifeline for tourism in Madhya Pradesh. While the former prepares to file a review petition requesting the apex court against translocation of Gir lions to MP, the Kuno Palpur sanctuary in Shyopore has come alive. The sanctuary is fast becoming one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country. Madhya Pradesh was initially known as the Tiger State but due to wanton destruction of forests, the lion population gradually got concentrated in Gir sanctuary of Gujarat. According to 2011 census, Gir had more than 400 lions. This got the wildlife experts thinking. Gir getting crowded was risky – a larger number of animals invite disease and in the event of an epidemic, the entire lion population could be wiped out. Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, carried out surveys for re-introduction of Asiatic lions and recommended Kuno Palpur sanctuary as the best site for establishment of an alternate home for the lion. To ready for the majestic citizenry coming to settle down in Kuno Palpur, the administration has successfully shifted 24 Maldharis and Saharaia village settlements from the sanctuary area, reducing the pressure on the sanctuary drastically. A seven-feet-high wall is being constructed surrounding the sanctuary border to prevent the animals from entering villages in the periphery. In another step to ensure protection of forests and wildlife and to curb forest crimes, the MP government has made a provision of awarding up to Rs 25,000 under the Madhya Pradesh Van Suraksha Puraskar Niyam for individuals who assist in detection of forest crime being proved in court, give tip-offs for nabbing offenders, and seizure of forest produce or any other information on forest crimes. There was some heartburn in the state in the past when authorities were asked to move tigers from Madhya Pradesh to Rajasthan. But right now, with Kuno getting ready with roaring, majestic lions coming to stay – the atmosphere is charged. The wildlife lovers of MP are exultant. Shivraj rides high on sadak, bijli, pani Digvijaya Singh lost Madhya Pradesh because he could not provide ‘sadak, bijli, pani’ (road infrastructure, electricity, water). During nights of severe power cuts during the Diggy regime, people would say, “Yahan to Digvijay hi Digvijay (andhera hi andhera) pasra hai” (There is nothing but Digvijaya [darkness] visible here). When the BJP came to power, its full focus was on ‘sadak, bijli, pani’. The road infrastructure is much better and water-woes are on the decline too. But if electricity was compared, the year was 2003 when Diggy ruled MP, and power shortfall was of some 2000 MV. While Shivraj Singh Chouhan launched Atal Jyoti Abhiyan in a phased manner in the state, the electricity board went a step ahead and started selling electricity to neighbouring states. MP is today selling approximately 100 lakh units of power to other states. In fact, if the Energy Minister Rajendra Shukla is to be believed, MP will not need to buy any power from other states till 2018. It will only sell power. Ten years out of Digvijay-created darkness, MP is today a power-surplus state! A definite feather in Shivraj’s cap. Woman of substance Vandana Bahadur, the sarpanch of Khankhandvi Gram Panchayat of Jhabua district, Madhya Pradesh, features in the UN Woman Calendar. A team from South Asia Office of UN Women from New Delhi, selected Vandana for the calendar that carries pictures of grassroots women workers – considered high achievers - from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Maldives. UN Women assists and guides elected women representatives in all the above countries so they can be more effective in governance. Vandana Bahadur, since ‘coming to power’ has initiated several construction jobs in her area. According to her, “We suffer from lack of water. Our livelihood is crops, and for crops we don’t have water. I have learnt how with many water-bodies in the area the shortage of water will be cured and then there will be more water under the ground too.” She informs us in her simple way, of the complex groundwater level issue. “I managed to get a primary school constructed in my gram sabha but I want a school up to class 12 in the panchayat as the kids have to walk three km from here to attend classes,” she said. [caption id=“attachment_781617” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Bahadur hopes to be an MLA.[/caption] She carries a mobile phone that keeps ringing continuously. You can hear her talking with authority of a woman who knows what she wants. At times she is harsh with her callers and makes them aware of their standing as against a mighty sarpanch. Then again on other occasions she is humble and seeks advice and guidance. Her mother is her greatest guide, “My mother says – keep learning. If you can become a sarpanch, you can be an MLA too. But for that you must learn as much as our MLA knows”. A daunting task for Vandana given the sitting MLA is a man!