Northeast Desk, 15th June: The Voice of the People Party (VPP) has proposed that the percentage of reservation for Khasi-Jaintia, Garos, Scheduled Castes, and other tribes be determined according to the 1971 census population, advocating the recognition of Khasi-Jaintia as a single community.
In a letter addressed to the Expert Committee on State Reservation Policy on June 14, VPP President Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit stated, “The percentage of reservation for Khasi-Jaintia, Garos, Scheduled Castes, and other tribes should be based on their population as per the 1971 census. The Khasi-Jaintia community should be taken as one community.”
Basaiawmoit emphasized that the state’s job reservation policy, while purportedly reflecting population distributions, did not accurately use official census data when determining reservation percentages. “The allocation of 40 percent for the Khasi-Jaintia, 40 percent for the Garos, and 5 percent for the SC and other STs lacked logical and scientific basis. The percentage was based on assumption rather than facts. Hence, it went against the very basis of the policy itself,” he added.
He also pointed out that although the Meghalaya government failed to implement the roster system, the Meghalaya High Court corrected this oversight in 2022 while applying job reservation policies.
In related developments, the Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) earlier asserted that the Scheduled Tribes (STs) of the state should receive a combined reservation of 93 percent. Similarly, the Hynniewtrep Integrated Territorial Organization (HITO) provided observations and suggestions on the existing State Reservation Policy, urging the expert committee to review and clarify the policy.
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