Reservations about women

Affirmative action can be a tricky road

The overwhelming opposition from Nagaland’s apex tribal body, the Naga Hoho, to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government's proposal to reserve 33 per cent of urban local body seats for women in the upcoming elections is revelatory in terms of the depth of male chauvinism that afflicts society in this north-eastern state. Ironically, a state that claims special status within the Indian Union is entirely in sync with mainland India in terms of embedded male chauvinism. The Naga Hoho has said electoral reservations will violate the traditional constitutional protections guaranteed to Naga culture. This is disingenuous, not to say anachronistic,