Recasting Citizenship for Development - File UPI

184 DEEPAK K. MISHRA AND VANDANA UPADHYAY
was only 2.20 per cent. However, the introduction of the three-tier
Panchayati Raj system, along with 33 per cent reservations for women,
has altered women’s participation in grassroots-level political institutions.
For the state as a whole, women’s shares at the village, intermediate and
district panchayat levels were 39.60, 34.99, and 33.82 per cent, respectively,
in the panchayat elections of 2003. 13 Reservation of seats for women
in decentralised institutions of governance may play a catalytic role in
gradually eliminating gender bias in the sharing of political power in the
state.
Women’s share in top managerial and professional positions is considered
one of the indicators of their empowerment. Unfortunately, we
do not have any data on the relative shares of males and females at such
top positions. Anecdotal evidence suggests that there is hardly any presence
of women at these apex decision-making levels. Given the low levels
of industrialisation and the thin presence of the private corporate sector
in Arunachal, the share of women in top-level decision-making can be
assessed indirectly by looking at their share at the top levels of the
bureaucracy. In the top levels of civil administration, women’s share was
found to be only 6.66 per cent in 2000–01 (Upadhyay and Mishra 2005).
Violence against Women
Economic prosperity and human well-being require efficient, just and
non-discriminatory rule enforcement and monitoring mechanisms. One
of the key determinants of a healthy and just social order is its treatment
of vulnerable social groups and individuals. Increasingly, the
significance of human security 14 is being stressed as a key element of
human development, particularly in the context of conflict-ridden
societies.
Crimes against women are among the most traumatising and politically
explosive subjects in India. In the political mobilisations of (and against)
social groups, cruelty against women has been used as a forceful political
weapon; so, women are not just victims of individual acts of violence.
Violence against women significantly affects various aspects of their
overall well-being, such as self-esteem, mobility, psychological and emotional
capabilities, as well as the freedom to lead a normal and healthy
life. Conventional development indicators, even the human development