Editorial 1 : A woman’s place
Introduction: In September last year, when the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed in Parliament, it raised hopes of a more gender-equal legislature. The near-unanimous support for a Bill that promised 33 per cent reservation to women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies seemed to frame a political class that had finally accepted an idea whose time had come.
The number of elected women members of parliament dropped
- The 18th Lok Sabha set to convene for its first session in a few weeks, the number of women in the lower House has dropped, from 78 out of 543 (an all-time high) in the 17th Lok Sabha to 73.
- It is clear that greater efforts must be made to break from the boys-club mindset, which continues to dominate politics.
The women issues took centre stage in election
- Since the 1991 general election, when the gap between male and female voter turnouts started narrowing, women’s imprint on the political landscape has only become larger and deeper.
- In the recent elections too, while the number of women who turned out to vote saw a dip in some phases, the overall gender gap was almost non-existent, with both male and female voter turnout pegged at about 66 per cent by the Election Commission.
- Women have used the power that comes with their participation to shape electoral outcomes, with even political parties recognising the growing importance of the “woman vote”.
- This recognition has mostly taken the form of targeted welfare schemes that have often taken campaign centre stage, including in the recent Lok Sabha polls:
- In West Bengal, for instance, the popularity of women-centric schemes such as Lakshmir Bhandar, a monthly cash transfer to over 2 crore women, is believed to have helped in sustaining the dominance of the ruling TMC.
- Earlier, the impact of Laadli Behna was seen to play a role in the BJP’s return to power in the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls.
Women leadership is dominating world
- The national political imagination will need to accommodate and embrace the idea of women leaders and decision-makers.
- Other countries can show the way:
- In Mexico, which elected its first woman president, Claudia Sheinbaum, this week, quotas for women at every level of politics, including at the ticket distribution stage, have helped in the rapid progress of gender equality.
- Countries like Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, with the highest female political representation, employ other kinds of affirmative action; parties in Sweden, for example, use the “zipper system”, wherein candidate lists alternate between male and female candidates.
- For India, the Women’s Reservation Bill is neither the beginning nor the end of the road to gender parity in politics — it is one milestone among many more to come.
Conclusion: Women are not just voters or beneficiaries. For greater representation in politics, they must be reimagined as leaders and decision makers.
Editorial 2 : Hawks have it
Introduction: For the eighth-time in a row, the Reserve Bank of India has opted to maintain the status quo on the benchmark interest rates. Many fears that the status quo by RBI might hurt the growth momentum going forward.
The delicate balance between growth and inflation control
- As such, the repo rate, the interest rate at which the RBI lends money to commercial banks, will remain at 6.5 per cent.
- The RBI’s primary objective in deciding the repo rate is to maintain price stability in the economy. By law, it has to target a retail inflation level of 4 per cent.
- The secondary objective for the RBI is to promote growth.
- Given that retail inflation is still above 4 per cent while GDP growth was above 8 per cent for the financial year 2023-24, this decision seems reasonable.
- But, looking ahead, while the RBI appeared more sanguine about India’s growth, it was also a little more concerned about the stickiness of retail inflation.
RBI’s optimistic projection on India’s growth
- On GDP growth, the RBI upped its forecast for the current financial year from 7 per cent to 7.2 per cent.
- In response, the benchmark Sensex soared by more than 1,720 points (or over 2 per cent) to hit a life-time intraday high of 76,795.
- The RBI noted that high frequency indicators of domestic activity are showing resilience in 2024-25.
The Monetary Policy Committee’s outlook
- Positive outlook for agriculture and rural demand: An above-normal southwest monsoon is expected, benefiting agriculture and boosting rural spending.
- Revival in private consumption: Sustained momentum in manufacturing and services activity should lead to a pick-up in private consumption.
- Investment activity on track: High capacity utilization, healthy financial positions of banks and corporates, ongoing government infrastructure spending, and positive business sentiment suggest continued investment activity.
The sticky inflation is still a concern for RBI
- On inflation, its primary concern, the RBI seems to have some worries.
- It is not as if inflation is not trending down — headline inflation has seen sequential moderation since February 2024 — but this decline has been in a very narrow range, from 5.1 per cent in February to 4.8 per cent in April.
- This has led to a growing divergence within the RBI’s six-member Monetary Policy Committee, with two members voting for a cut in interest rate while the other four choosing to stay put.
- Clearly the hawks (members who are more bothered about inflation rearing its head once again) continue to dominate the doves (members who take a more benign view of inflation prospects) within the MPC.
- When questioned, Governor Shaktikanta Das clarified that the RBI’s goal is not to cut rates as soon as they touch the 4 per cent mark, rather to cut when the policymakers are convinced that inflation will stay at or around that level sustainably.
Conclusion: High inflation, especially food price inflation, has been a crucial concern among voters in the just-concluded elections. Given the all-round uncertainty, both global (geo-political tensions) and local (rising incidence of adverse climate events on food prices), the RBI has wisely decided to err on the side of caution.