It was with great ecstasy women of Nagaland welcomed the Gauhati High Court verdict vis-à-vis the issue of 33% women’s reservation in local bodies. As has been published in all local newspapers, the Guahati High Court has directed the Government of Nagaland to conduct elections to local bodies, which were stalled because of the aforesaid 33% women’s reservation issue, before or on January 12, 2011, and it is hoped that the state Election Commission has set the ball rolling because every minutes draws us nearer to that date.
Meanwhile, it is also hoped that women of Nagaland are preparing to take the plunge --- a plunge women across the globe have taken and not looked back. Neither have societies and states looked back after women have taken the plunge in the electoral frays and actively participated in the decision making process thereby contributing to a better society and state and strengthening democracy.
The whole issue of women’s participation in the decision making process is central to the concept of democracy. No society and/or state can claim democratic credentials if half (perhaps even more than half) the population is excluded from the decision making process. Free will and the level playing field for participation in decision making are also crucial to the democratic processes therefore it is hoped that women of Nagaland would come out in large numbers and contest in elections to local bodies, whether under the reserved or non-reserved categories.
It is in this context, women of Nagaland must seriously ponder whether in the first foray into the decision making process it is in keeping with the essence and ethos of participatory democracy to nominate women candidates for the reserved seats in the forthcoming elections to local bodies in the state. While all women of Nagaland are extremely grateful to the Joint Action Committee for having successfully fought for women’s rights to participate in the decision making bodies in the court, the same body must ponder whether it has the right, the mandate and the competence to nominate candidates to contest the reserved seats. If one is not mistaken, no mandate to nominate candidates to the reserved seats in local bodies has been given to any women group/organization. But again, perhaps the idea of nomination to reserved seats is just an opinion of the joint Action Committee.
As yet we do not know whether women have started applying for nominations. In fact, it is imperative that we ponder over whether women should apply for nominations at all because the very concept of nomination is non-inclusive and the very purpose of opening the electoral field, albeit slightly, for women to contest in local bodies is to make ours an inclusive and participatory democracy wherein every woman is facilitated with the space and the scope to make individual decisions.
Besides, it is really a matter of debate whether our Hohos and NGOs are competent to nominate candidates in elections that are outside the purview of Naga traditional and non-governmental social bodies but are actually bodies created by the provisions of the Constitution of India. In fact, wasn’t that the very same argument we gave to some of our men, who vehemently opposed the 33% women’s reservation in local bodies, which even the Guahati High Court found solid merit in?
Wouldn’t women of Nagaland then defeat the very purpose of participatory democracy if we start becoming like any other non-governmental Naga traditional and social body by nominating candidates through centralized kind of decisions? Local bodies created by the Constitution of India to strengthen grass root-level participatory decision making and democracy are open playing fields for any individual and are not to be operated along the lines of our Naga traditional village bodies.
While one of Naga society and state’s greatest strengths is our traditional systems and structures for cohesive community living, if we, particularly women of Nagaland aspire to be equal partners and share-holders in all aspects of life as provided under modern democracy, we should be able to discern between the traditional and the social from that of decision making and participatory politics under modern democracy.
We must also contemplate whether the Hohocracy and NGOcracy prevalent in Naga society and state is conducive for modern participatory democracy, which incidentally is the only option for Naga women to be recognized as full-fledged human beings deserving of all universally acknowledged and recognized rights, freedoms, liberties and justice. After having won a case in the Court on the basis of Naga women’s rights to all universally acknowledged and recognized rights, freedoms, liberties and justice, if we start conducting ourselves along the lines of male-dominated Hohocracy and NGOcracy, we defeat ourselves and we defeat the very essence and ethos of democracy and progressivism.
In any case, women of Nagaland who are fully cognizant of the essence and ethos of democracy and progressivism, as also the norms for elections to local bodies, and who wish to contest, know for a fact that they don’t need to be nominated by any group/organization --- they just have to apply directly with the state Election Commission or a competent body designated by it, after elections are formally announced and the electoral procedure begins. The state Election Commission also knows that they are not morally, constitutionally and legally obliged to accept candidatures of only those nominated by traditional and social bodies like Hohos and NGOs. In other words, no woman must fear that she cannot contest simply because she is not nominated by any group/organization. All she has to do is to ensure that she is qualified to contest, have public support and generally do what is required to contest a clean, fair and healthy election and ensure that she does not abuse the faith reposed in her by the people, if and when she is elected.
Individual participation in decision making is the hallmark of modern electoral democracy and the more there is individual participation the healthier it is for democracy. So it is hoped that nothing would deter women, who wish to contest, represent the people by directly participating in decision making, from filing their nominations after the election process to local bodies are announced. Also, the more women join the electoral fray, the better it is to separate the wheat from the chaff. So far, it would appear that there are only a handful of women, in a few women’s organization in our towns, that can lead, but we all know that all women are born with leadership qualities --- our roles and responsibilities as mothers and home-makers are evidence to that.
Yes women of Nagaland, go in great numbers and storm this male bastion too. In the process, break free Naga society and state from the hold of Hohocracy and NGOcracy too. Be inspired by the fact that it is the tiny drop of water that makes the might ocean.
Meanwhile, it is also hoped that women of Nagaland are preparing to take the plunge --- a plunge women across the globe have taken and not looked back. Neither have societies and states looked back after women have taken the plunge in the electoral frays and actively participated in the decision making process thereby contributing to a better society and state and strengthening democracy.
The whole issue of women’s participation in the decision making process is central to the concept of democracy. No society and/or state can claim democratic credentials if half (perhaps even more than half) the population is excluded from the decision making process. Free will and the level playing field for participation in decision making are also crucial to the democratic processes therefore it is hoped that women of Nagaland would come out in large numbers and contest in elections to local bodies, whether under the reserved or non-reserved categories.
It is in this context, women of Nagaland must seriously ponder whether in the first foray into the decision making process it is in keeping with the essence and ethos of participatory democracy to nominate women candidates for the reserved seats in the forthcoming elections to local bodies in the state. While all women of Nagaland are extremely grateful to the Joint Action Committee for having successfully fought for women’s rights to participate in the decision making bodies in the court, the same body must ponder whether it has the right, the mandate and the competence to nominate candidates to contest the reserved seats. If one is not mistaken, no mandate to nominate candidates to the reserved seats in local bodies has been given to any women group/organization. But again, perhaps the idea of nomination to reserved seats is just an opinion of the joint Action Committee.
As yet we do not know whether women have started applying for nominations. In fact, it is imperative that we ponder over whether women should apply for nominations at all because the very concept of nomination is non-inclusive and the very purpose of opening the electoral field, albeit slightly, for women to contest in local bodies is to make ours an inclusive and participatory democracy wherein every woman is facilitated with the space and the scope to make individual decisions.
Besides, it is really a matter of debate whether our Hohos and NGOs are competent to nominate candidates in elections that are outside the purview of Naga traditional and non-governmental social bodies but are actually bodies created by the provisions of the Constitution of India. In fact, wasn’t that the very same argument we gave to some of our men, who vehemently opposed the 33% women’s reservation in local bodies, which even the Guahati High Court found solid merit in?
Wouldn’t women of Nagaland then defeat the very purpose of participatory democracy if we start becoming like any other non-governmental Naga traditional and social body by nominating candidates through centralized kind of decisions? Local bodies created by the Constitution of India to strengthen grass root-level participatory decision making and democracy are open playing fields for any individual and are not to be operated along the lines of our Naga traditional village bodies.
While one of Naga society and state’s greatest strengths is our traditional systems and structures for cohesive community living, if we, particularly women of Nagaland aspire to be equal partners and share-holders in all aspects of life as provided under modern democracy, we should be able to discern between the traditional and the social from that of decision making and participatory politics under modern democracy.
We must also contemplate whether the Hohocracy and NGOcracy prevalent in Naga society and state is conducive for modern participatory democracy, which incidentally is the only option for Naga women to be recognized as full-fledged human beings deserving of all universally acknowledged and recognized rights, freedoms, liberties and justice. After having won a case in the Court on the basis of Naga women’s rights to all universally acknowledged and recognized rights, freedoms, liberties and justice, if we start conducting ourselves along the lines of male-dominated Hohocracy and NGOcracy, we defeat ourselves and we defeat the very essence and ethos of democracy and progressivism.
In any case, women of Nagaland who are fully cognizant of the essence and ethos of democracy and progressivism, as also the norms for elections to local bodies, and who wish to contest, know for a fact that they don’t need to be nominated by any group/organization --- they just have to apply directly with the state Election Commission or a competent body designated by it, after elections are formally announced and the electoral procedure begins. The state Election Commission also knows that they are not morally, constitutionally and legally obliged to accept candidatures of only those nominated by traditional and social bodies like Hohos and NGOs. In other words, no woman must fear that she cannot contest simply because she is not nominated by any group/organization. All she has to do is to ensure that she is qualified to contest, have public support and generally do what is required to contest a clean, fair and healthy election and ensure that she does not abuse the faith reposed in her by the people, if and when she is elected.
Individual participation in decision making is the hallmark of modern electoral democracy and the more there is individual participation the healthier it is for democracy. So it is hoped that nothing would deter women, who wish to contest, represent the people by directly participating in decision making, from filing their nominations after the election process to local bodies are announced. Also, the more women join the electoral fray, the better it is to separate the wheat from the chaff. So far, it would appear that there are only a handful of women, in a few women’s organization in our towns, that can lead, but we all know that all women are born with leadership qualities --- our roles and responsibilities as mothers and home-makers are evidence to that.
Yes women of Nagaland, go in great numbers and storm this male bastion too. In the process, break free Naga society and state from the hold of Hohocracy and NGOcracy too. Be inspired by the fact that it is the tiny drop of water that makes the might ocean.
(The writer is Editor Nagaland Page)
