Senior advocate and politician Erwin K Syiem Sutnga has told Highland Post that the state’s job reservation policy is being mishandled and this is not conducive if one wants to promote merit.
While the reservation system was put in place when Meghalaya came into being in 1972, the roster system to administer it is a recent introduction.
“The hardships now lie with the roster system that is being mooted. Are we going to sacrifice merits for the sake of political convenience?” Sutnga asked. “What we require in the state right now, in terms of the civil service, bureaucracy, administration, etc, is a reservation policy that is conducive to the merit system. Either we have to do away with the whole reservation system or make it 80 percent for all of us.”
Stating that the reservation policy also does not have a clear quota for people with disabilities (PWDs), Sutnga said that it is for the government to devise a system and work out a solution in such a way that the reservation balances the need for merit as well as cater to the need for the economically challenged or others who require job quotas.
However, he lamented that this matter has now been politicised but expressed hope that good sense and wisdom prevail.
