IMPHAL, June 12: Putting questions on the state government’s reservation policy on government employment during the question and answer business on the third day of the 5th session of the 10th Manipur Legislative Assembly, Opposition MLA Th Shyamkumar Singh of Andro Constituency called the attention of the House to increase the reservation posts for schedule caste (SC).
MLA Th Shyamkumar Singh put the question on the number of jobs for scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and other backward classes category wise as per the reservation policy of the state government.
Replying to the question, the Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh who also holds the portfolio of Minority, OBC and SC presented the report on category wise reservation as per the reservation policy of the state government and said the Scheduled Caste has 2 percent reservation while the Scheduled Tribe has 31percent and OBC has 17 percent in the House.
However, MLA Th Shyamkumar Singh further raised the question in the House if the caste based reservation policy of the state government is different from that of the Union government.
The Chief Minister responded that there is a difference and that the state maintains 50 percent observation for the general category, two percent for SC, 31 percent for ST and 17 percent for OBC while the union government maintains 50.5 percent for general, 15 percent for SC, 7.5 percent for ST and 27 percent for OBC.
On hearing the Chief Minister’s response, MLA Th Shyamkumar Singh called the attention of the House demanding increase in the SC reservation quota, pointing out that people from other places grabbed the quota of Schedule Castes showing SC certificates which has denied the real beneficiaries to avail the benefits.
The Chief Minister said that the reservation policy is based on population. However, he will see what can be done, he added.