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Nagaland has been in a state of chaos and disorder ever since State Government took a
decision to conduct Local Urban Bodies (LUBs) elections with
33 per cent reservation for women which have been due for last 16
years. The protests are being led by Naga HoHo, Lotha HoHo and Sumi
HoHo – 3 Naga tribal bodies that represent more than 18 Naga tribes. They
argue that the concept of women's reservations infringes on
Naga "traditional rights" and is against their
customary tribal beliefs and that the Naga society is allowed to
follow its own customary rules and laws, as guaranteed by Article 371A[1] of
the Constitution[2].
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The
Naga Mothers’ Association (NMA), the key organization, which led the fight for
the 33 per cent reservation in the Local Urban Bodies based on Article 243T[3] inserted
via 74th Constitutional Amendment in 1993. In 2016, the
Supreme Court passed an interim order requiring the state government to provide
for women’s reservations in the ULBs, as in other states. Chief
Minister T.R. Zeliang’s Government had decided to hold the polls on February 1,
2017 after it received an approval from the cabinet on August 10, 2016 .
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The
traditional Naga practices bar women from inheritance.As per one of the study,
a woman from Ao tribe can neither become a member of the traditional
tribe/clan/village council nor inherit ancestral land, purportedly owing to her
‘physical weakness’.
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According
to the customary laws of the Chakhesang Nagas, when a married woman is caught
in adultery, she must leave her husband’s house with only her clothes she is
wearing, and pay a fine depending on the gravity of the situation. Whereas, if
a married man brings his lover and creates disharmony in the family, he will
have to give his wife half his property acquired during his marriage life.
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Although
tribal customary laws are unwritten and uncodified, these oppressive customary
practices have emerged as a result of the patriarchal interpretation of these
laws by men.
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There
has not been a single women legislator in the state Assembly since 1963 when
Nagaland came into being. The only woman to get to Parliament was Rano Shaiza,
niece of the pro-independence leader AZ Phizo, who was elected to the Lok Sabha
in 1977. Those women who are standing for the polls are under immense
pressure to withdraw owing to threats of excommunication. Women are abstaining
from coming out in large numbers in support of the reservations fearing
increased chaos and tensions.
(1) Notwithstanding
anything in this Constitution,
(a) no Act of
Parliament in respect of
(i) religious or
social practices of the Nagas,
(ii) Naga customary
law and procedure,
(iii) administration
of civil and criminal justice involving decisions according to Naga customary
law,
(iv) ownership and
transfer of land and its resources, shall apply to the State of Nagaland unless
the Legislative Assembly of Nagaland by a resolution so decides;
[2]
. Those rights, mentioned in Article 371A
of the Constitution, which is the core of the demands by agitators, have not
been codified or explained further. There is scope for ambiguity and
misinterpretation. Article 371A should not be tampered with but it must be seen
in the ambit of the entire Constitution. It cannot supersede other rights such
as equality of all before the law. Does it mean that one group's rights are
greater than those of others? That traditional rights protect the rights of men
but not of women? There is another question: do traditional rights surely apply
to what are recognisable and accepted as traditional bodies, but not to
creatures of the Constitution or a colonial legacy? Municipal bodies are
by no means a traditional system. They are barely a few decades old (says Sanjoy Hazarika, Director of the Commonwealth
Human Rights Initiative).
(1) Seats shall be
reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in every
Municipality and the number of seats so reserved shall bear, as nearly as may
be, the same proportion to the total number of seats to be filled by direct
election in that Municipality as the population of the Scheduled Castes in the
Municipal area or of the Scheduled Tribes in the Municipal area bears to the
total population of that area and such seats may be allotted by rotation to
different constituencies in a Municipality
(2) Not less than one third of the total number
of seats reserved under clause ( 1 ) shall be reserved for women belonging to
the Scheduled Castes or, as the case may be, the Scheduled Tribes
(3) Not less than one third (including the number
of seats reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled
Tribes) of the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in every
Municipality shall be reserved for women and such seats may be allotted by
rotation to different constituencies in a Municipality
(4) The offices of
Chairpersons in the Municipalities shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes,
the Scheduled Tribes and women in such manner as the Legislature of a State
may, by law, provide
(5) The reservation of
seats under clauses ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) and the reservation of offices of
Chairpersons (other than the reservation for women) under clause ( 4 ) shall
cease to have effect on the expiration of the period specified in article 334
(6) Nothing in this
Part shall prevent the Legislature of a State from making any provision for
reservation of seats in any Municipality or offices of Chairpersons in the
Municipalities in favour of backward class of citizens
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