KSU proposes population-based quota system

Calling for equitable reforms in the state reservation policy, the Konyak Students’ Union (KSU) has advocated for a population-based reservation system.
In a press release, KSU president Temwang and general secretary A Pangnan said reservation system was intended to provide a level playing field for the marginalized communities as they cannot compete with the advanced sections who have had more access to resources and means for social progress and development in the past and present.
However, KSU said that 48-year-old Nagaland job reservation policy has failed to address the “systematic disparity” particularly affecting the Konyak tribe due to its “faulty implementation and unfair distribution” of quota.
KSU said Konyak tribe has a population of over 2.50 lakh, which is approximately 12% of Nagaland’s tribal demographic. However, the union said that employment figure of Konyak tribe in government jobs remained glaringly dismal, which it pointed out was highlighted in the report by Department of Economics and statistics in 2019. KSU said that Konyak tribe has not just villages but entire range and even assembly constituencies without a single NPSC recruited Class I Gazetted officers till date.
Further, KSU pointed out that 2011 census recorded Mon district as having Nagaland’s lowest literacy rate at 56.60%. It maintained that educational deprivation in addition to the alarming underrepresentation in public sector employment only compounded to the misery and deprivation of the populace.
The union said that several representations were submitted in the past urging the state government for immediate review of reservation system. However, KSU said there was no positive response till date.
KSU said it, therefore, agreed with the demand of the Five Tribes Committee on Review of Reservation Policy (CoRRP) for comprehensive review of Nagaland state reservation policy. It advocated for a population-based reservation system to ensure representation of disadvantaged section emphasizing the demographic landscape as primary criterion for proper rationalization of the reservation policy.