With all the furore created by the Women’s Reservation Bill, it takes a foolhardy person to enter into an argument which has such vocal proponents, both for and against the bill. I dislike sticking my nose into issues which affect certain sections of the population but I feel it is the duty of every right thinking citizen to offer opinions which he/she believes to be in the best interests of all; so I’ll take the risk of getting a bloody nose and stick said nose into the issue.
I’ll begin by stating that I’m against the bill, not because I believe that women should be second class citizens but because it is another illegitimate child of the Congress(I) party and their vote bank politics. I have always supported the Congress party but I believe that the Nehru/Gandhi(not the Mahatma) family is responsible for nearly all the ills that affect Modern India. Mr. Jonah Achumi has rightly pointed out that if the aim of the Bill was really social justice, women should have been given 50% reservation. But no, the Congress party wanted to have their cake and eat it, i.e. they wanted to capture the female vote and, at the same time, try to keep the males from going up in arms. But as with all such ill-conceived attempts, they have managed to anger all.
Various suggestions have been put forward to overcome the impasse and all have the have been noteworthy. The one that I feel has been gaining ground is the proposal for 1/3 of the councillers to be nominated, with the nominated members having full voting rights. Theoritically, this seems the best way to overcome the various objections, both for and against the bill; but I beg to disagree, for we all know what the political class in Nagaland is like and we wil see a massive surge in the population of chamchas(sychophants) and a widening of the scope for nepotism, cronyism and favoritism.
I know that my opinion doesn’t matter and that I’m just howling into the wind but I’d like to suggest the following:-
1. Elections to all the wards in the councils should be held, as in the past, with both men and women being free to run for office.
2. Every 3(three) wards should be combined to form a super ward(for lack of a better term) wherein only women candidates will be eligible to run for office. So, in a council of 30(thirty) wards, you would have 10(ten) wards reserved for women.
I know the math does not add up(for you eggheads and nitpickers, in a constituency of 30 the percentage works out to 25% of the total councillers), but it will benefit all because the elected will have no cause for resentment, as would be the case if the women were nominated, and the women cannot complain because they are free to contest against the men. And at the same time, it will eliminate the scope for the sickening culture of nepotism, cronyism, sychophancy and favoritism that has pervaded the naga body politic.
I would advise all concerned, especially the women, to come to an understanding one way or the other, as early as possible because we all know that the present government hasn’t suddenly developed a conscience and decided to empower women. No, they want to hold the polls, willy nilly, so that they can get their greedy paws on the blocked central funds allocated to the municipalities.
