SHILLONG, May 17: Making it crystal clear that they would not settle for anything less than a review of the Meghalaya State Reservation Policy, 1972, the Voice of the People Party (VPP) has threatened to intensify their agitational programme if the state government fails to agree to the party’s demand during the all-party meeting scheduled on Friday. The party also demanded that the state government should amend the job quota policy to make it “proportionate” with due consideration to the population of the three tribes.
Addressing a sizeable gathering during the six-hour sit-in held at the parking lot near the Additional Secretariat on Wednesday, VPP president Ardent Basaiawmoit pointed out that the decision of the torchbearers of Statehood to fix the reservation policy by awarding 40% to Khasis and Jaintias and 40% for the Garos was unjustified.
Referring to the gap in terms of the populations between the Khasis and the Garos, Basaiawmoit said as per the 1971 Census, there were 4,57,064 Khasis as compared to 3,20,613 Garos.
“If you convert the numbers into percentages, the Khasis constituted up to 45% of the population while the Garo community constituted 30% only,” he said.
Condemning the failure of the MDA 2.0 Government to issue a notification to stop all ongoing recruitment process in the state, the VPP supremo said local youth from the Khasi-Jaintia Hills will be on the losing side if the roster system is implemented without any review of the reservation policy.
According to him, the problems faced by the unemployed youth originate from the “unjust” reservation policy. He added that the implementation of the roster system will further aggravate the problem of unemployment.
“We are looking at a policy that is proportionate. The message is clear — all reservations in India are based on the demography. We have decided to assemble again on May 19 (Friday) to send a very clear message to the government,” Basaiawmoit said, urging the public to gather at the same venue on Friday and await the outcome of the all-party meeting.
“We will not hesitate to intensify our agitation if we are not happy with the assurance of the government,” he iterated.
Addressing the gathering, VPP’s North Shillong MLA Adelbert Nongrum termed the reservation policy of 1972 as “illegal” saying it was neither approved by the Cabinet nor was it tabled on the floor of the Assembly for discussion.
“The state reservation policy cannot be considered a legal document unless it becomes an Act which means it has to be passed in the Assembly and cleared by the Governor. Sadly, no one has taken any initiative to table the reservation policy in the Assembly in the past 51 years,” Nongrum said.
The MLA reminded that the reservation policy was adopted on January 12, 1972, nine days before Meghalaya attained Statehood on January 21.
“How did we adopt such an important policy even before we got our Statehood? It is for this reason I say that the reservation policy is not a policy but a conspiracy,” Nongrum said while adding that the Khasi-Pnar people have been losing out for the past 51 years.
“We are not willing to sacrifice anymore for our future generations. The reservation policy needs to be renewed and strengthened in order to bring about prosperity in the state,” he said.
“We need to infuse a ray of hope among the younger generation. This can happen only if we have the right policies in place,” he added.
