A master’s student will launch a signature campaign on January 29 in the hopes of changing the “unfair” state reservation policy.
Currently 40 per cent of government vacancies are reserved for members of the Khasi-Jaiñtia community, 40 per cent for Garos and five per cent for other Scheduled Tribes. In some cases, at the district level, the reservation for Garos and Khasi-Jaiñtia can be read as combined, i.e. 80 per cent.
Bari Pyngrope, a student of horticulture at Allahabad University, wants this combined percentage to apply statewide. This would largely benefit the Khasi-Jaiñtia community more, as they tend to do better in exams and have a larger population in Meghalaya.
“We will hold a signature campaign on January 29 at Mawkhar taxi stand. I urge all communities to come and show unity on this issue by participating in the signature campaign so that the government listens that the reservation has to change and be equally distributed,” she said. “I have got feedback from many Garo friends who believe that there is nothing communal about raising this issue but there will be healthy competition for the students.”
Stating that the existing reservation policy formulated in the last 50 years has to change, she said, “The youth are behind me because I have no political agenda and am just an agriculture student.”
