The State government has urged the Centre to amend the draft model notification of the Department of Posts by prescribing knowledge of local language spoken in Meghalaya.
This came after the Federation of Khasi Jaiñtia and Garo People (FKJGP) had recently sought the intervention of the chief minister into the matter to enable educated unemployed youth to take advantage of the job opportunity as Gramin Dak Sevaks, Branch Post Masters and Assistant Branch Post Masters in the State.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has written to Union Minister for Communication Ashwini Vaishnaw on May 23. “Considering the larger interest of the Postal Department and the people of Meghalaya, I would like to request your esteemed Ministry to amend the draft model notification of Department of Posts by prescribing knowledge of local language spoken in Meghalaya. This can either be Khasi or Garo as the local language for the candidates to opt for. This is in addition to Hindi and English as is being done in the State of Assam, Manipur and Mizoram,” he wrote.
The Ministry of Communication, Department of Posts, has sanctioned 445 Gramin Dak Sevaks, Branch Post Masters and Assistant Branch Post Masters for posting in post offices across the state of Meghalaya for which the recruitment process is likely to be taken up soon.
As per the draft model notification of the department, Hindi or English are the prescribed local language as criteria for the recruitment. The FKJGP felt that this will deprive the chances of local youth to avail this employment opportunity as· they have to compete with candidates from outside the State who normally score better in these languages especially Hindi.