SHILLONG, Dec 28: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday appealed to the youths to eschew the “reservations mindset” in order to truly excel in different fields.
Speaking at inaugural programme of Mao Students’ Union (MSU) Makhel Heritage Conclave in Manipur on Tuesday, the chief minister contended that the real focus of youths should not be reservations but competition wherein everyone is judged solely on merit basis.
“The youths of the North East, especially the tribals, should come out beyond the reservation mindset to compete with the rest of the world,” the chief minister said.
“Late PA Sangma believed in competition; and he used to say that the youths of the North East, especially the tribals, need to start coming out of this reservation mindset and that we must go ‘Beyond Reservation’,” he added.
Conrad, however, clarified that he does not advocate the complete abolition of the reservation system.
“By saying this, he (PA Sangma) or I don’t mean that reservation should go away but it is the mindset that we must change and we must realise that we will need to compete with the rest of the world one day and we cannot go on thinking that we will get reservation,” the chief minister said.
Notably, the chief minister’s take on reservation comes days after Health Minister James PK Sangma said that a time will come when students and youths of the state will outgrow the quota or reservation system.
During the programme, the chief minister also spoke at length on the importance of balancing politics and culture to safeguard people’s identity and heritage, and enable people to connect to their roots.
“We should balance our identity and heritage and work with the core philosophy to promote our identity vis-à-vis ensure economic growth of our people,” he said.
Referring to the ‘One Skill One Talent’ feature of Meghalaya’s youth policy, the chief minister assured that every young individual in Meghalaya will be allowed to hone at least one talent.
He further informed the gathering about Meghalaya’s soon-to-be-implemented early child development programme for which Meghalaya will receive World Bank funding of up to Rs 150 crore.
“I am very happy that we are starting this special programme run for adolescent girls and boys starting with a programme for the girls first, which will then supplement our vision and mission for the Youth Policy for overall development of our youth,” the chief minister said.
Maintaining that it is imperative that the potential of youths be channeled in a constructive manner, Conrad said, “Our youth is our greatest strength… it could also turn out to be destructive if their potential is not channelised into constructive work. Our nation will progress if our youth are involved in national-building.”
