Rather than fighting over the reservation for women, we should let every parliament constituency and assembly constituency be represented by one man and one woman. The suggestion may seem outlandish and is definitely not made in any lighter vein.
The major objection will be the increased expenditure on account of this doubling the members. First of all, we have to see what percentage of the total expenditure for governance is the expenditure on members of parliament and state assemblies. Besides, we need not double the membership. Let us remember that the size of the constituencies were configured when transport and communications were not very easy. Today, it is not the case. The members can visit their constituencies physically in a very short time; they can resort to video conferencing or phone-in sessions and be in touch effectively. (In any case most MPs and MLAs hardly ever keep in touch with the voters of their constituencies; some are not even domiciled in their constituencies!).
Hence, by increasing the size of the constituencies we can retain the same number of members. In that case the quota within quota problem will become irrelevant. Even if the numbers are increased to say 600 for the parliament, the present infrastructure will be amply adequate given that most of the time we see the parliament mostly empty. In any case, compared to the parliament chamber of of the “mother of all parliaments” in England, we have a very spacious hall and some minor reconfiguring can easily accommodate even double the present number!
So why stop at 33% ? Let us be represented by both men and women in equal numbers.
Ramki Ruminates 