Thepfulhouvi Solo
FS Retd (RR-68) Retd Principal Secretary, Nagaland
All the legal Points and Constitutional Issues in connection with the 33% Seat Reservation in the Urban Local Bodies for the Female Gender that the Joint Woman Organization Nagaland has brought out in the local Papers on 13 January 2017 must be true. The Organization’s Statement is Right in the legal context.
The no-critical Nagaland Assembly and the naive, personally all very good Legislators have characteristically proven myopic in Principles in Nagaland contexts and brought this acrimonious controversy to Nagaland today.
In the universal democratic political context of Principles, the Woman Organization’s demand for special 33% Seat Reservation for the woman alone in the Urban Local Bodies while they share the remaining 67 % Seats freely with the Males, is UNREASONABLY INEQUAL.
The Males are barred from the 33% woman’s Seat but the Women are free to share any of the remaining 67 Seats! All the Seats, 100% of them appertain to all bona fides in the Society irrespective of Gender but 33% are apportioned specifically separate for the Woman only. What an Inequity?
Article 243 of the Constitution of India may look at the Reservation as REASONABLE in its alleged view that “the Society limits the Women”. Which Society does the Constitution of India have in Mind? The Naga Society does not look down on Woman.
In Naga Polity, Man and Woman have different Positions in Public Matters. This natural separate Position of Man and Women in Public Polity cannot artificially homogenize with Special Undemocratic Political Favor for Women in the Urban Areas.
The conditions of atmosphere in the Urban Area are the same for both Man and Woman. There is no special need of political favor for woman alone in the Urban Area. If the female Gender in Urban Area needs special political favor, those Women in the Rural Areas have the same requirement too.
The 33% Reserved Seats for Woman in Urban Bodies is Unequal Political Favor, perhaps granted not for nothing from the sage Government!
The favor is not available in the Lok Sabha, it is not in the State Legislative Assembly; in Raja Sabha this favoritism does not exist. The 33% Reservation for the Urban elite Woman is totally unadvised, uncalled for and unnecessary in Nagaland condition today. There should be democratic Equality in Politic for all.
It is argued that the Single Bench Supreme Court passed judgment that the 33% Reservation for Women in the ULB does not impinge on the Article 371A of Nagaland. If the Supreme Court has passed such a Judgment, then it must be so. But Let Article 371A alone:
The unwritten Article of Common Consensus Conscience etched in the Heart of the Nagas in the Naga Village Council from time immemorial is more conscionable for the Naga Society.
If Constitution says ‘Society limits the Women’ in India, it must be so. This Writer did not find Article 243 in his Copy of the Indian Constitution Book. He enquired from another reliable Person’s Copy, but there also, it is not listed. It is not known whether the Article is repealed or not but a District Magistrate said it still is Current.
However, whether the Article is repealed or not; has no worry for the Writer because in the Naga Polity, the position of Male and Female Gender is different. The Male Gender’s Stand in the Naga Polity today is nearer the modern political principle of ‘EQUALITY FOR ALL in the Assembly, in Parliament or in the Local elective Bodies. There should be no Special treatment for one Gender only, and like it or not, the Majority Decision is honored in Democracy.
This unwritten Magna Charta is etched in the Heart of the Naga Village Council. It is a kind of wild but is Pure Democracy. It may be unimaginable to other Societies. It was unimaginable to the civilized Authors of the Magana Carta long ago but the amazingly found it functioning “here and today in these People”. It is troublingly functioning in Naga Society today.
Some elite women may not like this, but Women are shorter sighted than Males in the long term historical Perspective for a People. Nagas are still in the threshold of their History and the Females may give weightier consider for the decisions of the majority rather than their short-term immediate election prospects. It is for the long-term historical perspective of their People that Nagaland strongly stands on the Indigenous Issue also where some woman may consider Woman Rights as more immediate.
There are many good Rules and Regulations in the Indian Constitution Nagas need to follow, but India also needs to give spaces for relevant, conscionable unwritten Naga Practices the Parliament of India has already agreed. Nagaland Assembly Legislators may like to read the ‘writings on the Wall’ and withdraw the 33% Reservation Regulation before the end of this Age after thorough and deep consultation with the people of Nagaland, and the woman Organization may also kindly withdraw their Case for the love of the Naga Society.
