The Konyak Students’ Union (KSU) has expressed its support for the Five Tribes Committee on Review of Reservation Policy (CoRRP)’s demand for a comprehensive review of the Nagaland State Reservation Policy.
In a press release issued on Friday, the union stressed the need to adopt a population-based reservation system to ensure adequate representation of disadvantaged sections. It said demographic realities should serve as the guiding framework for rationalising the policy.
Citing long-standing underrepresentation, the KSU said that even after 48 years of implementation, the state’s reservation policy has failed to benefit the Konyak tribe in any significant way.
“With a population exceeding 2.50 lakh—approximately 12% of Nagaland’s tribal demographic—the employment figure of the Konyak tribe in government jobs remains glaringly dismal, as also highlighted in the Department of Economics and Statistics’ 2019 report,” it stated.
“We have not just villages but entire ranges and even Assembly Constituencies without a single NPSC-recruited Class I gazetted officer to this day. The 2011 census records Mon district as having Nagaland’s lowest literacy rate at 56.60%,” the statement read.
According to the KSU, the combined effects of educational deprivation and exclusion from public sector employment have only reinforced the Konyak community’s status as one of Nagaland’s most socio-economically backward tribes.
It further criticised the state government for failing to act on multiple appeals and representations seeking a review of the policy.
In this context, the union said it fully endorsed the proposal put forward by the Five Tribes Committee.