Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC) has urged the state government to review the state reservation policy for jobs for backward tribes as demanded by the Five Tribes Committee on Review of Reservation Policy (CoRRP).
In a press release, NTC president C. Pankathung Lotha and general secretary C. Onen Walling said the issue of review of reservation policy had been going on since 2023, adding that it was about time the state government took up the issue seriously.
NTC said that initially reservation policy was made for only a period of ten years. However, it said that subsequent state governments have not made a single review of the policy for the last 48 long years.
Asserting that Five Tribes Committee demand has entered into the second phase, NTC said if the state government failed to listen to their rights, public may come out with stronger and wider protests for their demands, adding that it would be “very difficult” for the government to remain mute to the demands of the hohos. It said confrontations should be avoided as far as possible in between the state government and the Five Tribes committee. As such, NTC urged the state government to be understanding, rational and agree to consider the demands “for the simple logic that vested interests of political parties cannot ensure justice and equality for job reservation.”
The council maintained that a long wait of over 40 years for job reservation review was too long and unjust on the part of the state government.
NTC, therefore, suggested that the state government give in without further delay or confrontations.
Welcomes action against IAS officer: The council also welcomed the action taken by the state government against senior IAS officer Reny Wilfred for his alleged sexual harassment meted out to two minor girls at Noklak district when he was DC during 2020-21.
NTC said he was given transfer to Kohima at the Nagaland Civil Secretariat with “better assignments” by the state government. “Sadly, the same officer again harassed female employees working under him proving himself as a habitual sexual offender,” NTC said, adding the matter went to the National Commission for Women as well as the Nagaland State Commission for Women (NSCW).
Yet, NTC said the officer went to the extent of filing a petition against “those who exposed his criminal sexual offence”.
The council asserted that it was only after much stir and protests against his acts, the state government started investigations and placed him under suspension from service.
NTC maintained that suspension was not enough for such offences, saying the rule of law must take place unhindered.
Therefore, NTC asserted that justice must be delivered to the unfortunate minor girls and his own subordinate female employees at the earliest. “No one is above the law in a democratic setup and there have been instances all over the world where even heads of state have not been spared for their misdeeds,” the council. NTC expressed hope that the state government would not flinch from persecuting an IAS officer not matter his rank and file.