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Our Correspondent
Kohima, March 5 (EMN): A 15-member “working group” was constituted on Friday at the first consultative meeting of the cabinet sub-committee and civil society organisations in Kohima, to review Nagaland’s reservation policy in public sector.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, member of cabinet sub-committee and minister Neiba Kronu said the discussion was “fruitful” with all the stakeholders sharing their minds and suggestions.
The government proposed to “review the whole job reservation policy” during the meeting, to which the House approved, he said, adding that a working group was constituted with an aim to have a “closer understanding and study” about the job reservation issue.
The working group will consist of seven legislators and one member each from eight civil society organisations.
Kronu said that another problem would crop up if reservation is settled for one particular tribe, which was why the committee wanted the opinions of the stakeholders- on what basis it should be decided -- area-wise, block-wise, or tribe-wise.
He expressed hope that the stakeholders will apply their mind and wisdom to settle the issue together for the state to sail smoothly in future.
He said the issue of reservation in government services had been deliberated in the past by various committees -- Banuo Jamir Committee, Kevichusa Committee, Temjen Toy Committee etc. ‘While reservation for indigenous Nagas was introduced in 1967, the reservation policy for backward tribes has been in existence since 1977. Over the last 44 years of its implementation in the state, the reservation policy has undergone several changes,’ he added.
“No policy is perfect and needs to evolve with time. Accordingly, the government had decided to review the existing reservation policy,” Kronu added.
Chief Secretary J Alam said that several suggestions were placed before the House during the meeting. He added that the sub-committee will examine them and the newly formed working group will go further into the details.
Deputy CM Y Patton thanked the participants for exhibiting accommodative spirit with mutual understanding throughout the discussion and expressed optimism that the ideas and suggestions put forth by the members before the committee will help the government resolve the issue.
The 15-member working group consist of cabinet sub-committee members -- Y Patton, Neiba Kronu, minister Paiwang Konyak, minister Metsubo Jamir, Advisor Toshi Wungtung, Advisor KT Sukhalu and Advisor Zhaleo Rio – and one member each from all stalkholders.
As on Friday, six organisations -- ENPO, TPO, CNTC, ENSF, CNSA, and ENGOA – have submitted the names of their representatives, while NSF and Core Committee on Rationalisation of Reservation Policy (CCoRoRP) are expected to follow suit in the next few days.
It was informed that the members of the working group are expected to study the reservation policy, consult with their respective communities or organisations and come back with suggestions. The group will then submit its recommendations and suggestions to the cabinet sub-committee, who in turn will examine and submit the recommendations to state government.
The group has convened a meeting on March 20.
The CCoRoRP has appealed the working group of the cabinet sub-committee on reservation policy that a systematic and academic study should be conducted at the earliest on how the reservation policy is contributing to the targeted people and areas in Nagaland.
It re-affirmed the six-charter of demand mentioned in the representation and urged the government to keep all the advertisement on appointments in abeyance until total revision is formulated. It also suggested condoning age bar of the aspiring candidates in order to deliver justice to those who are on the verge of over ageing.
President of Eastern Nagaland Students’ Federation (ENSF), Sepili L Sangtam said that the federation has put forward its demand for 45% job reservation to the government and added that it is ‘constitutionally valid and historically justified’.
“We are not asking for someone’s share; we are demanding what is ours,” he said while reminding that the eastern Nagas’ contribution and sacrifice is clear.
Maintaining that their demand is “serious”, he said the federation would take its own course of action if the government play delay tactics while addressing their genuine and legitimate demands.
The federation pointed via a presentation that out of 1,21,694 total employees in the state, the share of six tribes in eastern Nagaland is only 16,927. It went on to say that the region, which constitute 36.25% geographical area of the state, has 173 medical establishments out of the total 604 in the state; 711 government schools out of 1544; six government colleges out 63; and the new medical college in ‘major development sectors’.
It added that not even a single department had implemented the 25% reservation policy, with almost 88% existing in paper and only 12% implemented.
Supporting ENSF’s demand, ENPO President Kekongchin Yimchunger said that demand for 45% job reservation is their legitimate right and justified. He added that the state government never invited ENSF to discuss the matter
“If government cannot implement and just keep silent, how do we expect the issues to be solved?” he asked, while adding that “once we sit across the table nothing is impossible”.
He felt that the reservation policy, which was supposed to bring backward tribes at par with the rest of the Nagas, have failed to help the unprivileged people.
‘Even after implementation of reservation for 43 years, much difference is not seen. It has not lived up to our expectation,’ he added.
He said that the “gap” arose because of backdoor appointments in the departmental examinations and urged the government to seriously check where the implementation of reservation went wrong.
‘If any policy/order is out, it has to be implemented in letter and in spirit and not only in the paper,’ Yimchunger said.
The Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) said that blanket classification of a particular tribe as backward or forward should be scraped and ‘pocket-wise reservation policy be adopted to do justice’.
Claiming that well-to-do families have been misusing the current reservation policy, it urged the working group to see to it that genuine candidates get the benefit.
‘There should equal criteria on educational qualification for all jobs. If relaxation is given on educational qualification for employment, that will only yield mediocrity and will hamper the state towards progress. Therefore, even if a job is reserved, there should be no compromise on the educational qualification,’ it added.
The NSF went on to suggest that there should be a “cut-off mark even on reservation quota” to avoid ‘qualification only’ by virtue of being single candidate from a particular tribe or pockets under a given rooster.
It also appealed to the state government to come up with a stipulated time-frame for implementation of NSSB, saying that it can’t be put on hold indefinitely because of the reservation issue.