SHILLONG/TURA: Following various student groups raising a hue and cry over the inclusion of two Muslim candidates under SC category, who were nominated for four-year degree course of B.Sc (Hons) Agriculture at College of Agriculture, Imphal, Manipur, under CAU for the academic session 2020-21, the Directorate of Research, Training and Technology Induction, in a corrigendum, retracted its stance and put the students under ‘Open General’ category.
The move, earlier, drew a lot of attention of various student bodies including the Hajong Students’ Union from Garo Hills, who called it “unconstitutional” and “highly condemnable”.
“The eligibility criterion for admission under Meghalaya State quota is that the individual should belong to ST/SC/OBC. But, how did the term OT come,” Aditya Hajong, president of the union, questioned, while referring to the list of selected candidates.
According to the list, 14 candidates have been nominated for the course, out of which two are under SC category, one is ‘Other Category (OT)’ while the rest are under ST category.
Pointing out that the Constitution provided special privileges and protection to three groups — SC/ST/OBC, Hajong said that reservation was earlier given only to SCs and STs but after the implementation of the mandal committee report, OBCs were also included, in 1987.
“We want to ask the Meghalaya Government when was the Constitution of India amended again to include the so-called ‘OT’ category? Has the government been issuing OT certificates to people? Because in the caste certificate, only SC/ST/OBC is mentioned. This move of the government to unconstitutionally manipulate the reservation policy and demote the tribal status of the indigenous tribal communities is highly condemnable and highly deplorable,” Hajong said.
Meanwhile, the Education Cell of the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) expressed surprise while also opposing the admission of non-ST students in the reservation list for admission in the College.
In a statement issued here, the chairman of the Education Cell of the union, Raymond Kharjana, said that the names of the students suggest that they are non-locals and questioned as to how they can be categorised as SCs in a predominantly ST area.
He went on to say that the admission of 14 students in the reservation list is still very less.
In this connection, Kharjana has sought clarification from the Agriculture department and the Central Agricultural University (CAU) for the inclusion of non-ST people in the list while also demanding to remove their names.
On the other hand, the Federation of Khasi Jaintia Garo People (FKJGP) has said that it will approach Agriculture Minister Banteidor Lyngdoh to seek more clarity into the matter, while also arguing that deserving students from the Khasi-Jaintia communities are being deprived of opportunities.