Dr Asangba Tzüdir
A voice vote of the Nagaland Legislative Assemble has passed the Nagaland Backward Tribes Commission Bill 2016 based on the memorandum submitted to the government by the ENSF mainly on the implementation of the 25% reservation of Govt. job granted to the people of the four districts. The bill is Passed with the objective of safeguarding the ‘rights’ of the Six tribes of Eastern Nagaland belonging to Longleng, Kiphire, Mon and Tuensang districts and would seek to address the issues related to reservation of posts and its associated policies, to make recommendations on development, education, employment and health aspects. However, not just the six tribes but the commission would also look into the problems of other “backward” tribes in the state.
A lot needs to be done on how the Commission is structured, constituted and empowered so that it may not be a mere mouthpiece to make recommendations and highlight grievances in black and white without being implemented.
Beyond addressing the 25% reservation, what will be more pressing for the Commission would be on the issues related to development in relation to education, employment, health etc in improving the overall quality of life. A lot would then depend on the powers and functions of the Commission.
Under the existing circumstances rather than simply filling up the 25% reservation, what is desired is a holistic approach to development for the upliftment of the deprived areas or certain sections of people based on various disparities. Just having a 25% reservation in place will not serve this purpose because at the end of the day it does not make sense if only the ‘privileged few’, within the so called backward tribe becomes the beneficiaries of reservation which seems to be the case. With the existing level of disparities, the challenge and concern is to bridge the yawning gap of disparities even within a tribe and this can only happen when holistic developmental models are in place that would seek to improve the overall quality of life. The presence of the Commission would make sense only when it is fully empowered so that it can truly address the rights, needs and aspirations of those who are really deprived. The passing of the Nagaland Backward Tribes Commission Bill by the NLA hopefully should not be simply for the sake of gaining political mileage but one that caters to the interest of those that are actually deprived.
Side by side, the ‘New Recruitment Policy’, which the Government had disclosed that it was working on the ideals of fairness, transparency and one that is judicious should be in tune with the reservation policy. But it is high time that a new reservation policy is worked out not simply on the lines of ‘forward’ and ‘backward’ because there are a lot of other aspects worth considering beginning with economic backwardness and the huge rural-urban divide. From economic and education point of view, one approach can be to earmark certain colleges that are seen as a few notches above the rest and students who had passed their qualifying exams from such colleges should not be entitled to reservation irrespective of gender or tribe. This may not be an ideal solution but it seems to be more rational, just and fair because even among the ‘struggling’ tribes reservation privileges are enjoyed by those coming from economically stronger section that can afford better education from better colleges.
Today, on the whole, there is need for the evolution of new policies. We may talk about reservation and recruitment in terms of ‘forward’ and ‘backward’ and in terms of reservation percentages, but what is imperative is a holistic approach that seeks to address the disparities that is happening among the tribes as well as within the tribes. There are many aspects worth considering in the pursuit of pushing the so called backward forward towards improving the quality of life.
(Dr. Asangba Tzüdir is an Editor with Heritage Publishing House. He contributes a weekly guest editorial to the Morung Express. Comments can be mailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
