Dimapur, August 9 (MExN): The Eastern Naga Students’ Federation affirms that it would not comprise and succumb to any “tactical play” by the government or non-governmental agencies “which came as a clatter.”
The ENSF, through its general secretary P Methna Konyak, stated that of the existing 33% reservation only “4-5%” accounts for the Konyaks, Changs, Sangtams, Yimchungers, Khiamniunngans and Phoms. The ENSF claimed that the increase of educated employed is alarming “among our six tribes.” It also maintained that their rights have been deprived while justice has been denied.
The ENSF further asserted that injustice has been done with the explanation that out of two lakhs and fifty thousand Konyaks only four are employed in the “directorate of school education.” In the same directorate there is one Sangtam and a Khiamniunngan, three persons (from Yimchunger and Phom communities), while “Chang has 6 persons employed in the department” the ENSF explained.
The ENSF explained that it was demanding “what is our right which was originally reserved exclusively” for the above mentioned tribes between the years 1967-1973 through government orders. In the year 1977 “certain sections” were added to the 25% reservation in an order dated January 11, 1977. Also in 1972, 25% reservation was enhanced to 33% and included two tribes to the fold by a government notification August 16, 1979, the ENSF stated. The ENSF stands very firm that it would not succumb to any kind of deprived policies and the 25% should be given without delay, it stated.
In this transitional era where “advanced” tribes are already stepping into the digital age of information and technology, the educated youths from “backward areas”, the ENSF stated, has to struggle. “The grimy layer of few infrastructure development and other subsidiaries policy (framed) to facilitate these socially and economically backward tribes into advancement will not suffice the genuine demand of the ENSF for the 25% job reservation opportunity in all the department and directorate” it added.
