By Gary Marbaniang
Conversations on the Reservation policy have raised the political temperature and the issue has always been a hot potato. The Khasi Students Union (KSU) under the leadership of Paul Lyngdoh took to the streets and led a highly charged agitation for a reform of the Reservation policy in 2001 but the agitation did not bear any fruit.This time around it is the nascent political party,the VPP which has taken to the streets to push for a reform of the Reservation policy which has remained unchanged since the inception of Meghalaya 51 years ago.The UDP and the HSPDP on the other hand argued that a reform of the Reservation policy was on the parties manifesto and their argument is that had the electorate given them the overwhelming mandate to rule,they would have kept their poll promise and reviewed the Policy.
Different states in India have implemented varied employment and reservation policies.The labour and employment department of the government of Gujurat came out with a resolution in 1995 where it clearly stated that,”minimum 85 percent of the recruitments to the post in the cadre of employees,workers and artisans and minimum 60 percent to managerial and supervisory posts in all the undertakings of the state government as well as all the industries being provided with incentives by the state government situated in the state should be made from among the local residents.” In Arunachal Pradesh there is 80 percent reservation for Arunachal Pradesh Scheduled Tribes in state government jobs. I don’t know how fair the recruitment process is in Nagaland but the reservation policy currently in existence in Nagaland where 80 percent of gazetted/technical posts are open for competition to all the tribes and where 37 percent of non-technical posts are reserved for the backward tribes, I feel, is the right kind of reservation policy; a similar kind of reservation policy I feel will be in the greater interest of our state.
As far as reservation for non-technical posts in Meghalaya is concerned, the reservation should be based on the population criteria and for a fair and just policy, the population of the Garo and Khasi-Jaintia community in 1972 should be the point of reference.
The reality is that pan India, job vacancies in the government sector are a drop in the ocean if we take into account the burgeoning number of job seekers but in North and North East India,jobs in the government sector are still the most sought after. South India and some states in North and Western India have a strong and robust private sector and even though job creation to job seekers ratio is still inadequate,yet the unemployment situation is not as pervasive as it is in some North Indian states and North East India.Andhra Pradesh in 2019 became the first state in India to pass a bill which imposes 75 % quota for locals in the private sector. Many industries analysts view the bill as regressive and they also feel that investment in the state will take a hit and it will not augur well for the future growth prospects of the state. Haryana followed suit by passing a similar bill in 2021.The legislation imposes 75 % reservation to the state domiciles for private sector jobs.
A strong and robust manufacturing sector is the only answer to generate plentiful employment opportunities. A case in point is Vietnam. From being a war torn country caught in a vicious cycle of poverty,it is currently witnessing a miraculous transformation and it is on the cusp of becoming a middle income country. In a span of just about ten years, the GDP per capita has almost doubled from a mere 2197 USD in 2012 to around 4200 USD in 2022.Vietnam is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and giant tech companies like Samsung have a big role to play in this economic transformation. For 2022, out of the total 350 billion dollars of exports,Samsung contributed almost 65 billion dollars.When a giant tech company shifts operations to a particular country, it also brings along its R & D operations to that country thereby enhancing the quality of human capital in the process; this is what is happening in Vietnam.
The only answer to unemployment be it in Bihar, Mizoram or Meghalaya is that a shift from the agriculture to the secondary and tertiary sector needs to happen and recruiting the best brains for supervisory positions in the government sector will help in making the difficult transition possible. As far is Meghalaya is concerned, there is ample scope to generate employment in the service sector primarily the tourism sector but solely relying on a service sector is like relying on deadwood.The Covid pandemic has laid bare the dangers of overeliance on the tourism sector; one of the main reasons for the collapse of the Sri Lanka economy was because its tourism sector was hit hard by the Covid pandemic; according to many analysts the ban on chemical fertilizers was the main reason that led to the collapse of the Sri Lankan economy but looking at the bigger picture,it was the COVID pandemic and the subsequent shutdown of international tourism that sent the Sri Lankan economy into a tailspin;the ban on chemical fertilizers was just the final nail on the coffin.
International tourism which was a key part of Thailand’s Gross Domestic Product also took a serious hit during the Covid pandemic.In 2019,tourism contributed 11.5 % to the GDP of Thailand; after April 2020, almost all international borders were closed and Thailand imposed its own set of restrictions on foreign visitors thereby hampering its tourism industry badly but even though the contribution of tourism to the country’s GDP reduced drastically because of the pandemic yet the country did not fall into a recession and it was able to weather the storm primarily because of the existence of a strong and robust manufacturing sector.The economy of Thailand is an export oriented economy with exports accounting for more than two-thirds of gross domestic product(GDP).Over 250 billion worth of goods and services are produced annually in Thailand and given it a solid standing in the global economy.Thailand exports for 2021 was a whopping 294.51 billion dollars,a 14.28% increase from 2020.Thailand is the second largest economy in Southeast Asia.The major exports are mostly manufacturing goods and some of its produce are essential items needed for the global supply chain.Most of the units in its manufacturing sector are job absorbing units and the end result is that unemployment is almost non-existent.Thailand’s unemployment rate in 2022 was only 0.86 percent.
Can Meghalaya think among these same progressive lines or will it be stuck on agitating about declining and nearly non-existent government jobs?