Meghalaya no to quota for women

SHILLONG, March 11: Meghalaya, home to three matrilineal tribes - the Khasi, Garo and the Jaintia - is as unwilling as any of its neighbouring "patriarchal" states to give its women the benefit of 33 per cent seat reservation in all the decision-making bodies. "Blanket reservation will do more harm than good , both for the women's uplift as well as to the political processes," Chief Minister E. K. Mawlong told The Telegraph when asked to comment on this much-debated issue. The Chief Minister reasoned that for reservations of this sort to succeed there should be enough qualified women to fill up the space reserved for them. Otherwise, he said the entire exercise would end up as a farce. If the reservation came into force, the state would have nearly 20 seats reserved for women. There are not enough women, who are qualified or feel they are qualified to fill up this vacancy, he said. "Even without reservations, we are constantly on the lookout for qualified women to represent the segment," he said and added that during the 1998 elections, his United Democratic Party could find just one woman to represent the Pariong constituency in West Khasi Hills. The only other woman is Roshan Warjri, who is one of the three women in the state Assembly. Mawlong said even if the reservations came into force, urban women would have to be fielded in rural constituencies, where women are not qualified, he said.