The 5 Tribes Committee on Review of Reservation Policy (CoRRP) held a joint sitting with the apex bodies of the five tribes, along with youth and student organisations, at Hotel URA in Kohima to deliberate on the State Cabinet’s decision of August 6.

Convener, Er. Tesinlo Semy said the meeting focused on the composition of the proposed Reservation Review Commission. While appreciating and acknowledging the Cabinet’s decision to form the Commission, he said CoRRP is not happy with the composition of the Commission.

Semy stated that the inclusion of civil society organisations (CSOs) in the Commission was unacceptable to CoRRP.  “We have decided that we will not participate or abstain from any government function including the Independence Day. We have opposed the inclusion of civil society in the Commission in order to let Commission have independence and impartiality. We want the Commission to be by the Government officials, retired or Government serving bureaucrats,” he added.

Member Secretary GK Zhimomi emphasised that the idea of forming the Commission was not CoRRP’s demand, but an outcome of the June 3 meeting with the State Government, led by Deputy Chief Minister Y Patton. He recalled that the State Cabinet, on June 12, had agreed in principle to set up the Commission but had not specified its composition at that time.

However, he said the August 6 decision revealed it to be a seven-member body, including CSO representatives, which CoRRP had opposed from the start.

He mentioned that CoRRP had  made it clear from the beginning that CSOs should not be a part of the commission , the commission should be an independent commission to have an impartial and fair assessment of the entire reservation policy. That has been their demand in the first place, he added.

On Minister of Parliamentary Affairs K.G. Kenye’s statement that advanced tribes make up 64% of government employment while backward tribes account for 34%, Zhimomi termed the figure “wildly imaginary” and far from reality. “We have the data, and it will be revealed at the appropriate time. As a government spokesperson and minister, one should avoid quoting figures that could provoke the situation,” he said.

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Referring to the Governments stand a neutral, Zhimomi said that  If the Government is neutral then why is the Government spokesman justifying the 48 years of indefinite policy by citing it with the SC/ST reservation in the centre which has been going for 78 years as per his statement. He underscored that it’s entirely different, “We are all a part of enjoying the ST reservation but it has got nothing to do with interlinking with state government backward tribe reservation policy,” he maintained.

Responding to a question whether the five tribe committee has considered of having a sitting with the tribes that belong to backward quota to deliberate further to take their views of the whole movement , Zhimomi said that  it is the duty of the Government to take the both sides and come up with a fair deal for both sides.

“We welcome the constitution of the Commission but vehemently is against the composition. We agree to the extent that the Cabinet has given six months time to the Reservation Review Commission but any delay or extension will be totally unacceptable,” Zhimomi cited.

“We are of the firm view that the state government will have to implement the recommendations of the reservation review commission upon its submission and should not wait for the outcome of the census. If the state government is adamant on reservation review outcome interlinking with the census then we are demanding that the reservation be suspended till such time,” he underscored.