Amid pressure from 5-tribe group, Nagaland sets up panel to review decades-old reservation policy
Amid pressure from 5-tribe group, Nagaland sets up panel to review decades-old reservation policy
Kohima, The Nagaland government on Monday constituted a commission to examine the decades-old reservation policy of the state, according to a notification.
The panel was set up two days after an association comprising five major tribes of the northeastern state set a 10-day ultimatum to the government to address the issue.
The protestors argued that the policy, which has been in place since 1977, no longer reflects the current socio-economic and educational realities of the various communities in the state.
The Commission, headed by retired bureaucrat R Ramakrishnan, would review the job reservation policy in the government sector and recommend a framework for equitable representation of various tribes, stated the notification.
The five-member panel comprises senior officials from the Home, Law & Justice, Higher & Technical Education and the Personnel and Administrative Reforms departments.
The Commission has been tasked with wide-ranging terms of reference, including examining constitutional and statutory provisions governing reservation, assessing educational and economic parameters, reviewing the impact of the existing policy, and consulting apex tribal bodies, students’ unions, employees’ associations, and other stakeholders.
According to the notification, the panel would also recommend criteria for determining backwardness, distribution of reservation quotas, monitoring mechanisms, and timelines for implementation. The Commission is expected to submit its report within six months.
On September 20, the five-tribe Core Committee on Reservation Policy , representing the Ao, Angami, Lotha, Rengma, and Sumi tribes, set a 10-day ultimatum to the state government to come forward for redressing their grievances over the matter.
The group had warned that failure to respond within the stipulated period would compel them to impose total shut-down from October 1 in eight districts inhabited by them – Kohima, Dimapur, Mokokchung, Wokha, Niuland, Chumoukedima, Tseminyu and Zunheboto.
The CoRPP has been pressing for total review of the reservation policy effective from the 1970s.
Initially, 25 per cent reservation was allocated for seven tribes in non-technical and non-gazetted posts for a period of 10 years. These tribes were designated as ‘backward’ based on educational and economic disadvantages, and limited representation in state services.
Over the years, the reservation has increased to 37 per cent, comprising 25 per cent for seven Eastern Nagaland Backward Tribes and 12 per cent for four other backward tribes of the state.
CoRRP has held various agitations and protest since April this year and has declared non-cooperation with the government and did not participate in Independence Day celebrations.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
