Imphal, July 28 2009: Manipur University Tribal Students' Union (MUTSU) has entreated the President of India, Pratibha Devisingh Patil to take up necessary action for implementation of 31% reservation for scheduled tribes in all matters of admission and the same percentage to appointments of non-teaching staff in Manipur University (MU) under a special consideration until the proposed Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (IGNTU) in Manipur is established.

In a representation submitted to the President of India, MUTSU stated that MU had been following the reservation policy of the government of Manipur while it was a state university keeping 31% and 2% of seats reserved for scheduled tribes (ST) and scheduled castes (SC) respectively in appointment of non-teaching staff and admission of students in various courses.

However, the representation of MUTSU continued, for reasons undisclosed to the public, the MU authorities had taken its sudden unilateral decision to switch over to central government reservation policy from the Manipur state government reservation policy which might have been reaction of the MU authorities against MUTSU and All Tribal Students' Union, Manipur (ATSUM) who launched intense movements for implementation of 34% reservation of seats for STs in all levels of appointment in MU and subsequent agreements reached between state government and central government for establishment of IGNTU in Manipur, which is yet to be translated into action.

Manipur cabinet in its meeting held on August 19, 2008 had decided to request the government of India for amendment of the central reservation policy in regard to MU to strictly adhere to the state reservation policy, i.e., 31% for ST, 2% for SC and 17% for OBC as a special case, as all the universities of the north eastern region, such as, Nagaland University, Mizoram University, Rajiv Gandhi University (Arunachal Predesh), and North Eastern Hill University, followed their respective reservation policy in matter of appointment to non-teaching staff and admission to various courses, the representation of MUTSU pointed out.

If regional adjustment can be done in case of other universities of the north eastern region, why should not there be the same adjustment made in the MU which is located in the same region and where there is a sizeable tribal population (34.2%) in the state, MUTSU claimed.

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