Morung Express News
Kohima | March 20
The much anticipated meeting between the Cabinet Sub-Committee along with the newly constituted working group of the stakeholders held to review the existing reservation policy for indigenous backward tribes of Nagaland ended with no concrete outcome.
The meeting was held on March 20 at the office of the Chief Secretary at the Secretariat and lasted for two hours.
However, when enquired on the outcome of the meeting, representatives from the stakeholders informed some media persons that there was no concrete outcome as such.
ENPO President Kekongchim Sangtam informed that the next meeting is scheduled on April 20 wherein the Chief Secretary will put forward the proposal of the government, and added that some decisions might be taken on that day.
When enquired if the ENPO and ENSF had put forth any demand in today’s meeting, Sangtam responded in the negative and maintained that the demand of ENSF is different from the current issue.
“This issue is comprehensive rectification of the existing reservation policy, so it is a new beginning,” he said.
Sangtam also maintained that any positive suggestion will be taken into consideration and the proposal put forward by the government will be discussed by the committee.
Varied opinions and disagreements
While the government representatives and others were tight lipped on the day’s meeting, a representative speaking to The Morung Express on the condition of anonymity said the meeting reiterated to work out on comprehensive review of the existing reservation policy on job reservation in Nagaland.
He also informed that it has deliberated among others, to review ‘creamy layer and pocket wise’ implementation and agreed on a time frame review of reservation policy after every 10 years.
It was also learnt that a suggestion was put forth for ‘one-time’ relaxation on conducting of departmental exam till NSSB is implemented which was outrightly rejected by the NSF.
The source also disclosed that ENPO was reluctant to remove the tag of ‘backward tribe’ to the present nomenclature, wherein ENSF continued to stick to their 45% quota on reservation justifying that “45% reservation is a reasonable demand if North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) was reasonably recognised for the existence of Nagaland State.”
The meeting ended with the decision that the Chief Secretary would present the structural layout for review on reservation in government services to be reviewed in the next meeting.
Reconsider demand for 45% reservation
While welcoming the decision of the State government to review the existing reservation policy, a member of the working committee on reservation opined that ENSF has to reconsider it demand for 45% reservation.
“They have to consider their demand, else it will become like the political talks where there’s no end. ENSF, ENPO and ENGOA should reconsider their demand for 45% reservation and instead encourage meritocracy” he maintained.
While iterating that they are all part of the committee for solution, he remarked that if one is adamant to one’s demand, the others can demand otherwise and insist on the same or more. However, he went on to state, “We are for solution.
We want to be a part of the solution towards this issue because it is pending for more than four decades.”
He also rationalised that the so-called ‘advanced tribes’ are also being deprived with so many discrepancies and injustice in the ratio on the roster. To this, he asserted that ultimately, the government has to have a serious relook on the existing reservation policy.
