Kohima: The Nagaland government has constituted a commission to examine the decades-old reservation policy of the state.
The commission has been constituted by the Governor of Nagaland.
Retired bureaucrat R Ramakrishnan will serve as chairman, with the heads of the Home, Law & Justice, Higher and Technical Education, and Personnel & Administrative Reforms departments as members. The P&AR head will also act as member secretary.
The panel was set up two days after an association comprising five major tribes of the northeastern state set a 10-day ultimatum to the state government to address the issue.
According to the protestors, the policy, which has been in place since 1977, no longer reflects the current socio-economic and educational realities of the various communities in the state.
The commission will review the job reservation policy in the government sector and recommend a framework for equitable representation of various tribes.
The Commission has been tasked with wide-ranging terms of reference, including examining constitutional and statutory provisions governing reservation, assessing educational and economic parameters, reviewing the impact of the existing policy, and consulting apex tribal bodies, students’ unions, employees’ associations, and other stakeholders.
The panel would also recommend criteria for determining backwardness, distribution of reservation quotas, monitoring mechanisms, and timelines for implementation.
ALSO READ: Nagaland minister promises swift release of pending student scholarships
The commission is expected to submit its report within six months.
On September 20, the five-tribe Core Committee on Reservation Policy (CoRRP), representing the Ao, Angami, Lotha, Rengma, and Sumi tribes, set a 10-day ultimatum to the state government to come forward for redressing their grievances over the matter.
