Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, October 12 2010:
The All Tribal Students Union, Manipur (ATSUM) led by its president Thomas Taishya and the State Government representatives headed by chief minister Ibobi Singh on Monday discussed issues of reservation of posts for schedule tribes and schedule castes in various departments of the State Government.
On the issue of the pending Manipur Reservation of Vacancies in Post and Service (for SC and ST) Act 2007, ATSUM said that the Government party had been asked to hand over the final draft copy and to set a deadline for its enforcement.
The tribal students' body had been reassured that their grievances would be looked into and enforcement of the Act would be made affective within 10 days of the return of the Chief Secretary who is currently abroad on official work.
On the impasse in the recruitment of Primary Teachers in Education (S), the tribal students' organization said that the Government has agreed to extend the services of contract basis teachers of all districts, especially in Science and Maths.
On the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (IGNTU), ATSUM said that the recently established University is is need of an Administrative Officer or a Program Co-coordinator to oversee extra-academic matters such as land acquisition.
The University must take-off from within its planned site during the present State Government's tenure, added the students' body which lashed out strongly against the present OSD accusing him of 'not doing enough to justify his post'.
The organization was assured, at the end of the meeting with the chief minister, that Rs 6 crores had been invested for land acquisition.
The sum has been deposited with the deputy commissioner of Senapati district and the same shall be utilized within 10 days.
Asserting that the recruitment of various posts in Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) smacked of a communal overtone the tribal students' body accused that in order to by pass reservation for ST/SC, recruitment was initially done on a contract basis which was later converted into a permanent basis.
The absorption of JN Hospital staffs into JNIMS by default also scuttled proper representation of STs, it said.
Regarding this the Government's representatives assured that the correct figure of JNIMS tribal seats in medical and para-medical will be available within 1 week and existing lacunae corrected forthwith.
The aggrieved students' body was also assured that tribal posts in the Assembly Secretariat and Fire Services will also be made available.
Hidden posts have been identified for possible correction, it said.
The government sought time on matters of census 2011 saying that if any manipulation comes to pass during the first phase, it will be put right and clarified during the second phase of the census operation.