India News | Meghalaya Oppn Party Chief's Hunger Strike Enters Second Day

Shillong, May 24 (PTI) The indefinite hunger strike of opposition Voice of the People's Party (VPP) chief Ardent Basaiawmoit demanding a review of the 1972 "unfair and outdated" reservation policy, entered its second day on Wednesday.

Supporters of the VPP, which has four MLAs in the 60-member Assembly, came to the parking lot of the additional secretariat, where Basaiawmoit is holding the fast, to express solidarity with him.

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“I am feeling ok. I have mentally prepared myself for this and God is with me,” he said.

A team of doctors are monitoring the health condition of the MLA who started the indefinite hunger strike at 9.30 am on Tuesday.

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“We are monitoring his health condition at regular intervals. All vitals are normal. He is taking ORS,” a senior doctor told PTI.

Last night, the MLA slept inside a tent at the makeshift camp.

"At the moment, only our president is fasting but we are ready to join the fight for the rights of our fellow Khasi youths and brethren,” Adelbert, an MLA said.

Since 1972, 40 per cent of the state government jobs are reserved for the Garo and Khasi communities each. Another five per cent is reserved for other tribes residing in the state while the remaining 15 per cent are for the general category.

The VPP has been seeking a review of the policy asserting that it is unfair to the Khasi tribe, the population of which has outnumbered that of the Garos over the years.

The present policy needs a relook as the population of Khasis consisting of subtribes – Jaintias, Wars, Bhois and Lyngngams – is higher than the Garo people, it said.

According to the 2011 census, over 14.1 lakh Khasis live in Meghalaya while the number of Garo people is a little over 8.21 lakh.

So, this policy is “unfair and outdated”, the VPP president said.

Basaiawmoit, however, said he is not against the rights of the Garos to government jobs and he is only demanding an impartial job reservation policy.

The Meghalaya government on Friday constituted a committee to address concerns over the roster of the job reservation policy in the state.

It was also decided to put on hold government job recruitments until the panel headed by Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh submits its report on the roster, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said after an all-party meeting on the issue on Friday.

A roster is an application to determine the reservation of posts in a cadre for different categories with reference to the applicable percentage of reservations.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)