Shillong, May 22: The Synjuk Ki Nongsynshar Shnong Ka Bri U Hynniewtrep (SNSBH), an umbrella body of headmen, met on Monday and decided to form an 11- member committee to discuss roster system and present their views to the government.
SNSBH general secretary RL Blah told reporters that the government may invite the headmen on May 26 to discuss the matter.
Blah did not make it clear whether they will raise the reservation issue.
Call for policy review
The Hynniewtrep Integrated Territorial Organization (HITO) has stressed the need on the part of the state government to review the job reservation policy so that the Khasi and Jaintia communities get adequate representation based on population.
In a statement, HITO president Donbok Dkhar said the job reservation policy as per the resolution of January 12, 1972 is based on population.
“However, it appears that the reservation policy is not proportionate to the population of the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo Scheduled Tribe communities in the state as on date, in as much as the same was based by the then policymakers on their assumption instead of factual census data.”
Dkhar said as per the 2011 census, the Khasi & Jaintia community comprises around 14,11,775 of the total population in the state, and the Garo Community about 8,21,026.
Achik body’s plea to 24 MLAs
The A’chik Organization for Social Welfare (AOSW) has asked 24 MLAs from Garo Hills to speak out on roster system as only the Chief Minister Conrad Sangma is handling the issue alone.
In a statement issued to the media, the organisation stressed that there is no need of reviewing the reservation policy.
“There is nothing defective in the JRP of 1972. The word review is required only for job recruitment data and the statistics of the roster system since the year 1972 when the Act was notified in the official gazette, the successive governments had failed to maintain the roster in balancing the reserved seats and examination of the data and statistics would reveal that Garos never filled 40% reserved seats”, the organisation said.
