Chakhroma Students’ Union (CSU) has expressed solidarity with the five tribe reservation committee’s September 22, 2024 memorandum to the chief minister regarding review and reform of the state’s job reservation policy by five-member committee.
Acknowledging that affirmative action was often implemented to address historical inequalities and provide opportunities for marginalised communities, CSU president Kezhawelie Richa and general secretary Menokhrielie Chalieu however expressed concern over such policies extending for a period of more than 47 years, and called for its immediate review by the state government.
Pointing out that reservation policy did not address the root causes such as poor access to education, healthcare or infrastructural development, they stressed that if the underlying issues were not addressed to the very root, job reservation was not the only solution for socio- economic upliftment. Hence, they said it was important and crucial to revise the job reservation policy.
They cautioned that if the government failed to take concrete measures to address these burning issues, it would create new disparities or inefficiencies among the Nagas very soon.
Noting that the job reservation policy had remained unchanged and the tribes benefiting from the policy had now advanced and were on a par with the so called advance tribes, they said it was surprising that it was not reviewed, nor any changes had been made thus far.
The CSU leaders lamented that the numerous recommendations made by various review committees had been largely ignored, barring some minor implementations.
They alleged that key issues such as the duration of the reservation, internal reservations, the impact of multiple benefits for backward tribes, the concept of “creamy layers”, discrepancies in entry age, and the backlog of reserved posts had not been adequately addressed. They urged the government to retrospect and rectify the present reservation policy in Nagaland without any further delay.