HYC seeks change in language provision for rural bank jobs

SHILLONG: The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) has rejected the provision under recruitment rules for rural banks that gives employees six months to learn local languages.
HYC, which said it was “impractical for a person to learn Khasi or Garo within six months”, petitioned Chief Minister Conrad Sangma requesting him to take up matter with the Centre in respect to a notification regarding the appointment rules which provide RRB candidates not proficient in the local languages at the time of selection a period of six months from the date of joining to acquire proficiency in the languages.
HYC said in the petition that the Meghalaya Rural Bank recently put up an advertisement for recruitment to the post of ‘officer Scale I’ and ‘office assistant’ for filling up the vacancy in the bank through the Institute of Banking and Professional Services, a recruitment agency.
According to the HYC, out of the 27 successful candidates who had applied for the post of officer Scale I, 11 belonged to the unreserved category, 13 belonged to the OBC category, 2 belonged to the ST category (Meghalaya) and one candidate belonged to the SC category. For the post of office assistant, out of 20 successful candidates, 10 belonged to the top unreserved category, 9 belonged to the ST category and 1 belonged to the OBC category.
“Those selected under unreserved category and OBC are from outside the state,” the HYC said.
According to the group, as per the advertisement, one of the essential qualifications is proficiency in a local language which is either Khasi or Garo.
The NGO said that the central government issued a notification last year in respect of appointment of officers and employees Rules, 2017 which stated that RRB candidates not having proficiency in local language at the time of selection will be given a time of six month from the date of joining to acquire proficiency andthat the period may be extended for a period of another six months.