SHILLONG, June 21: An office memorandum issued by the government on May 10, 2022, for preparation of roster for implementation of the State Reservation Policy has drawn the ire of the Hynniewtrep Youth Council which, on Tuesday, gave two weeks’ time to the former to either review it or come up with a clarification.
The HYC has alleged that the office memo was lopsided and unfair on the Khasi and Jaintia communities.
The HYC made it clear that if the government did not pay heed, they would be left with no option other than calling a public meeting of the Khasi-Jaintia community to protest the same.
HYC general secretary Roykupar Synrem said, “We have strong objection against ‘point F’ of the office memorandum.”
He said point F of the office memorandum mentions that preference should be given to local candidates residing permanently in the district in which the vacancies occur. “In other words, in Garo Hills the whole combined reservation of 80% will be available to the Garos in the absence of any interested candidate belonging to the Khasi-Jaintia communities, and in Jowai or Shillong, the combined reservation of 80% will be available to Khasis and Jaintias in the absence of any interested candidates belonging to the Garo community,” he said.
“The guideline that provides for combined 80% reservations for Garo and Khasi-Jaintia communities at the district level is fine. However, we strongly oppose the proviso/rider spelled out in the guideline which provides for preferential selection of local candidates and in the absence of candidates from other communities in a particular district,” he said.
“In the five districts of Garo Hills, candidates from Garo community will get a combined reservation of 80% and no Khasi-Jaintia candidate will be selected if preference is given to local candidates residing in the concerned districts since a negligible number of Khasi-Jaintia people reside in Garo Hills. However, in the remaining seven districts of the state (Khasi-Jaintia Hills and Ri-Bhoi), the situation is completely different,” he said.
Synrem pointed out that a considerable numbers of Garo people permanently reside in these seven districts and they will apply for vacancies arising in their respective districts. “In such a case, the guidelines provide an opportunity to the Garo community to apply and get selected here,” he said, adding that the guidelines favour the Garos and are unfair to the Khasi-Jaintia communities.
“We have given two weeks to the government to come up with a clarification or a review of the office memorandum failing which we will take necessary steps,” Synrem added.
