Womens reservation in Nagaland,will the government stand up to its commitment ?

Governor P B Acharya has stirred up a hornets nest by asking the state government to implement the 33 per cent reservation for women in urban local bodies and Lokayukta.

Nagaland in the past has been notorious in giving space to women in Governance and since its inception has the in-glourious distinction of not even having a single Female MLA in the Assembly

It remains to be seen how Chief Minister will respond to a problem which he has inherited from various previous governments.

But it is to the Chief Ministers credit that he recently oversaw a Cabinet bill which would give women 33 percent reservation ,what according to skeptics will remain to be seen is actual empowerment.

'I hope most women are not daughters or wives of influential leaders' says Alem Jamir,a businessman from Mokokchung.Similar sentiments are expressed by Vilar Solo from Kohima who adds that 'symbolic reservation do not help women empower themselves' stating that the Naga Society must give space to women to make some crucial decisions .

The Governor earlier had put the ball in the state governments court by stating that the women group of the state had gone to the court demanding implementation of 33 per cent women reservation in urban local bodies and the case is pending in Supreme Court, Acharya said the state government has decided to implement women reservation but some tribal organisation were against it.

The Governor said he has asked the state government to convince these people and conduct elections to the urban local bodies by implementing women reservation.

Also read Does Nagaland really empower their women ? Statistics and Data state otherwise

In the end while welcoming the 'advise' of the governor , L,Humtsoe an aspiring fashion designer stated one thing which was quite poignant 'we cannot wait till some NGO's wake up and realise denying us our rights is a wrong thing to do' adding that if the Government of Nagaland has the courage they should go ahead and implement the reservation policy in the state.

While many are convinced that this is a step in the right direction ,what remains to be seen is that will the Government have the courage to go against a historic norm and practice which is unfair to its women folk.

Time will tell,till then the Governors advise seems to be will taken by many.