Imphal, Oct 12: A delegation of All Tribal Students Union, Manipur (ATSUM) led by its president Thomas Taishya met state government representatives headed by chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh on Monday and discussed various education related issues and reservation of posts for schedule tribes and schedule casts in various government departments.
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 had been asked to hand over the final draft copy and set the dateline 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 in the state who is currently on tour abroad.
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 Mathematics.
On the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (IGNTU), ATSUM said that the recently established University is for want of Administrative Officer or Program Co-coordinator to oversee extra-academic matters such as land acquisition.
For the interest of all, the University must takeoff from within its planned site during the present State Government tenure, added the students` body and lashed out strongly against the present OSD and accused him of ‘not doing enough to justify his post’.
Following the hue and cry raised in this regard the organization was assured at the end of the meeting with the chief minister that Rs 6 crores of investment for land acquisition had already been deposited with the deputy commissioner of Senapati district and the same shall be utilized within 10 days.
Asserting in its agenda that the recruitment of various posts in Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) smacked of communal overtone the tribal students` body accused that in order to bypass reservation for ST/SC, recruitment was initially done on contract basis which was later converted into 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 paramedical will be available within one 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 matter of Census 2011 saying that if any manipulation had come to pass during the first phase, all of which will be put to right and clarified during the second phase of the Census operation.
