Impact of Gender Biased State Policies on Women Empowerment: Conflict Between Constitutional Mandate and Personal Laws in India

Impact of Gender Biased State Policies on Women Empowerment: Conflict Between Constitutional Mandate and Personal Laws in India.

MUSHTAQ AHMAD DAR*
JOURNAL: Journal of Human Development (JHD), Vol. 04, No. 1:  1-15

JHD , 4:(1 )(Jan–June 2012)

1-15

Published By: ISP

ISSN: 0975-8119

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Impact of Gender Biased State Policies on Women Empowerment:
Conflict Between Constitutional Mandate and Personal Laws in India
MUSHTAQ AHMAD DAR*

Abstract

Thus democratic decentralisation or local self-government or“Panchayati Raj” as it is popularly known in India aims at makingdemocracy real by bringing millions of people into the functioning of

their representative government at the lowest level. A democratic polity involves the decentralization of power in a way that the affairs of the local people are managed by means of their positive participation. It signifies marked devolution of power from the higher to the lower levels in a way that the units of local government exercise their authority with the participation of the people of that area with occasional control and supervision of the provincial and central governments. The rationale for the Constitution 73rd Amendment Bill was that even though the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) have been in existence for a long time, they have failed to acquire the status and dignity ofviable and responsive peoples’ bodies. Obstacles in this regard arose mainly because of non-mandatory nature of Article 40 (deals with organization of panchayats), absence of regular elections, insufficient devolution of powers, lack of financial resources, and inadequate representation to women and SCs/STs. These lacunae could not be rectified until appropriate constitutional support to the PRIs was provided to ensure certain basic essential features in the Indian Constitution itself to impart them a measure of certainty, continuity and strength.

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https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzK9gm0Mf4eYTExQZ1YxSi1VRkU/edit