Imphal, October 04: In protest against the recent recruitment of Guest Lecturers in History Department of Manipur University a general strike has been called by the All Tribal Students' union of Manipur and MU Tribal Students' Union from 6 am of october 6 till 6 pm the next day.

In a joint statement the tribal students' bodies said decision to enforce the general strike was arrived at an emergency meeting wherein the State Government as well as MU authorities' lack of commitment to honour previously agreed terms to keep in abeyance the recruitment exercise was seriously noted.

The statement recounted that on September 19 this year representatives of MUTSU-ATSUM along with the MU Vice chancellor and other teaching faculties had agreed to put on hold fresh recruitment in the varsity until the issue of reservation for tribal candidates is finalised.

Moreover, a meeting on the same agenda/issue was held at the Chief Minister's office chamber on February 29 wherein an understanding was reached 'to go slow or put on hold' any recruitment in MU until reservation policy of tribals is amended, ATSUM-MUTSU noted.

"Before conversion of MU from State to Central university in 2005, MU Syndicate illegally adopted a resolution under No.30/90/3.9.89 and gave a mere 10 percent reservation for ST/SCs at the entry level (Lecturer level).

"Since establishment, only five ST candidates have so far been recruited into faculty members, out of which two had already retired," highlighted the joint statement while informing that in non-teaching faculty, the University has recruited 38 STs out of total of 322 .

The reservation norm after the upgradation of MU to a central varsity meant SC/ST candidates could have only 7.5 percent representation compared to the earlier percentage of 10, the statement pointed out and described as unjustifiable that SCs comprising of only 2 percent of the State's population would benefit with 15 percent of the amended reservation policy.

Further stating that in case the reservation policy is not amended only 30-35 ST students could be accommodated in an academic session, the students' bodies called upon the Government and MU authorities to rectify the anomaly for the sake of justice.

"Our faith in the Government and MU authorities has failed but our faith in the people of Manipur will help us solve the problems and bring peace and justice in our State," it added.

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