TURA, June 4: Representatives of the Scheduled Caste (SC) community of Garo Hills have sent a memorandum to Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma seeking at least 5% of representation in government jobs for members of the community.
Despite being a major part of the reservation system in India, the SC community in the state of Meghalaya actually falls under the general category and not within the ambit of reservation with 85% of seats being reserved for the various tribal communities of the state.
In the memo sent through an email to the chief minister, the SC leaders informed that currently there were at least 25,000 people from across all the five districts of Garo Hills that fall into the SC category, or about 0.58% of the total population of the state. However due to the job reservation policy, the category became the worst affected of all residents of the state as there was no separate reservation for them.
“Earlier the 5% included the Bodo, Koch, Rabha, Hajong and the SC community but since the inclusion of the Mann community, the six communities are now getting only 5% of the reservation which is a huge injustice. While others in the group are recognised as tribals, the SCs are put into the non-tribal community,” said the memo.
They felt it was unreasonable and unconstitutional to include ST (other tribe) and the SC in the same quota.
The members observed that in the case of medical seats or nursing, not one person from their community was represented. Similarly even in the District Selection Committee, not one amongst 17 seats for surveillance workers were given to the SC category or even the general category aspirants.
“Even in the unreserved posts in the state, the posts were going to only one tribe in the state which in itself is a gross violation. Even in education no separate quota has been created for the marginalised community to uplift us – the SCs. It must be noted that the SC community is amongst the deprived communities of the country and a reserved category as per the Constitution. As such, not providing a separate reservation for the SC in the roster system will be imperfect. As such we seek the inclusion of 5% reservation for bonafide SC community members in the state,” added the memo.
