SHILLONG, May 31: The Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) on Wednesday suggested a combined 80% job reservation for the Khasi-Jaintia and Garo communities based on merit.
KHNAM president, Pyndapborthiaw Saibon told reporters that if the government does not agree to this suggestion, the reservation for the Khasi-Jaintia people should be increased to 50% in view of the population ratio.
He also suggested that the reservation in the districts of the Khasi-Jaintia region should be 80% for the Khasi-Jaintias and 80% for the Garos in the Garo Hills districts.
The KHNAM president further said that the state government needs to amend the office memorandum of May 10, 2022, and stop all recruitment processes till the reservation policy is reviewed.
The party’s vice-president, Thomas Passah said the demand to review the reservation policy is an old one.
The UDP and HSPDP are on the same page as far as the demand for a review of the job reservation policy is concerned. The two parties have made it clear that their demand is legitimate and was also reflected in their election manifestoes.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting of the two allies in the MDA 2.0 Government, UDP’s Renikton L. Tongkhar said the two parties have sought a fresh office memorandum (OM) so that the ongoing recruitment process is not affected.
He said they expect the state government to issue the new OM at the earliest.
Tongkhar said both parties were happy since the Committee on Reservation Roster has given all political parties 15 days’ time to submit their views and suggestions on the need to review the job reservation policy.
On the common call for constitution of an expert committee, Tongkhar said, “We leave it to the wisdom of the state government to appoint the members of this committee.”
Meanwhile, HSPDP president KP Pangniang asked the government to amend clause 4 of the OM of May 10, 2022. “If the government does not want to use the word ‘prospectively’ it may consider using the word ‘from now onwards’ or ‘henceforth’,” Pangniang said.
