Muslims seek 4% job quota in Meghalaya 

A largely community-based organisation has sought a 4% share of the quota in jobs for Muslims in Meghalaya. The Anti-Corruption League, representing the ‘Desi’ Muslims inhabiting the plains belt of Meghalaya’s Garo Hills region, listed its request in a letter to Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma.

GUWAHATI

A largely community-based organisation has sought a 4% share of the quota in jobs for Muslims in Meghalaya. 

The Anti-Corruption League (ACL), representing the ‘Desi’ Muslims inhabiting the plains belt of Meghalaya’s Garo Hills region, listed its request in a letter to Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma. The letter was submitted on May 30, the day when the National People’s Party-led Meghalaya government reconstituted a Committee for discussing the implementation of a reservation roster system and the State Reservation Policy. 

The ACL said that the non-tribal population was 20% when Meghalaya was carved out of Assam in 1972. “Despite being a part of Assam and the Assamese culture for centuries, the Desi Muslims extended their support for a separate hill State with high hopes that their rights and socio-economic aspirations would be protected and accommodated in the new State,” it said. 

“In the historic tripartite meeting among Central government representatives, non-tribal leadership led by the then MDC (member of district council) Akramuz Zaman and the tribal leadership led by Captain Williamson A. Sangma (Meghalaya’s first Chief Minister), the non-tribals were assured of equal opportunities and fair play by the tribal leaders,” the ACL said. 

“It was also promised that our rights and aspirations, our growth and development will be given equal priority and importance as that of the tribal people of Meghalaya,” it added, lamenting that the assurances were never fulfilled. 

“The basic idea of the reservation is an affirmative action by the State towards a group of people who were deprived of opportunities or suffered inequalities in the past,” the ACL said, pointing out that the present reservation system not only deprives the meritorious but has also created a group of people who are subjected to injustice and widespread inequalities.