The A’chik Students’ Welfare Association (ASWA) has submitted its suggestions to the expert committee on the state reservation policy, asking for the maintenance of the status quo in government jobs and higher education quotas.
Currently, the reservation policy keeps aside the majority of government jobs and education slots based solely on ethnicity, with 40 per cent alone for Garos and another 40 per cent for Khasi-Jaintias. Some political parties and organisations want the latter raised and the former decreased to better reflect the populations of the two communities.
ASWA said that it advocates for reservation “to be based on communities’ backwardness in terms of education, socio-economic status and representation in government jobs.”
ASWA argued that reservation solely based on population is unconstitutional and “contrary to the primary objective of the job reservation system.”
The 2022 census of Meghalaya state government employees shows a “significant underrepresentation” of Garos at just 35 per cent compared to nearly 62 per cent for Khasi-Jaintias.
Year after year, Garo Hills generally performs below that of Khasi-Jaintia Hills in school exam results, the association added. This “highlights the need for continued support for the Garo community through reservations to address these educational disparities.”
ASWA also opposes combining the Garo and Khasi-Jaintia reservation into a lumpsum 80 per cent, saying this would hurt Garo representation.
