Dimapur — The Konyak Students’ Union (KSU) has called for a prompt and comprehensive review of the existing reservation system (backward quota), in line with the latest population data, to ensure distributive justice in employment and service sector.
While acknowledging the state government’s commitment to uphold meritocracy across fields, the KSU, in a press release, drew the attention of the state government over the reservation issue particularly concerning the Konyak tribe.
“It is a well-established fact that the current distribution system of backward quota among the eastern Nagaland tribes on the principle of equality rather than population defies all common sense and rationality of any socio-economic welfare policy,” the union asserted.
The student body said that the Konyak Union had also submitted a representation to the chief minister on May 7, 2019 and reminder on Sept. 30, 2020, highlighting the plight of the Konyak community, “exacerbated due to unfair and unjust quota allocation” among the backward tribes.
“As per date from Department of Economics and Statistics, the number of Konyak employees as on 2018-19 stands approximately around 7981, which is not even 4% of the Konyak population and with the same employment policy the number would not achieve any substantial increase even in 2024.
“Even a casual glance and comparison of population-employment ratio of all the tribes will provide sufficient evidence to validate our claim,” the KSU pointed out.
It argued that the current affirmative action policy, rather than serving an intended objective, has only widened the inequality gap in employment sector among the Konyaks as compared to counterpart communities.
The union went on to allege that due to such a discriminatory policy, the educated Konyak and deserving youths have been deprived in exams conducted by the Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC) and various departments ever since the reservation came into effect.
“The concept of equality is practicable only in equal circumstances, time and space. Coercive implementation of equality by ignoring the reality of demographic differences only creates reverse discrimination.
“As the state government seeks to streamline the service sector, more genuine employment opportunity is anticipated soon under NPSC, NSSB and departmental recruitment,” the union said.
