Issues of backward reservation policy

These days there is a lot of blood boiling invectives flying thick and fast about the job reservations for the backward tribes in Nagaland from demand of the five advanced tribes.
The demand for the policy review as such is reasonable and must be accepted to make an attempt to find remedy to many glaring discrepancies in the policy frameworks.
But like in many other matters that rues Nagaland, this reservation talk is also making the backward group the punching bag between the government and the five tribes and made out to be the undeserving boor like Alfred Doolittle in George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion”.
Please remember the statesmanship of this backwards to politely decline the offer of the State Govt. to provide 10 EAC posts exclusively for the backward tribes to make up the past deficits in the recent past.
Also kindly consider the fact that when the reservation policy was framed it coincided with the Job Creation Ban in the state and despite the pious flaunts of the backward reservation the job opportunities had vanished simultaneously.
The advanced group had free and open chances to grab the jobs when Nagaland got Statehood and their educated ones got the job they deserved.
But among them there were also cases that even the under-matrics got the job who rose to the highest level like the saying “the early runners caught the crabs and the later ones got only the bad smell of it.” Today there are talks of creamy layers. But funnily where from the creamy layers emerge with this limited exposure.
We heard of the Pan-India Phenomenon but is there any scope in our underdeveloped state where over time, the high standards have been set in which the ever undeserving backwards find themselves ill-equipped even to get any fair share from developmental works.
It is hoped, the government authorities will take a balanced view of the matter to do equitable justice to all concerned.
This said, merit is not an inherent attribute but rather the product of the opportunities availed of and sometimes non-too merits also pass off under the curb.
Some got to enjoy first and some come to it later and we all belong to one place called Nagaland.
So, review the policy as needed and following the principles laid the details may be worked out including the implementing norms to avoid frictions in the future.
B.Thawang Konyak
(IAS Retd) Dimapur