Representatives of All Tribal Students’ Union, Manipur (ATSUM) have met the chief minister here on December 15 demanding for the rectification on a dozen of issues relating to tribal rights in the State. On his part the chief minister, O Ibobi Singh, has assured the representatives of ATSUM that their grievances and concerns will be conveyed to and deliberated with the concerned departments and will be tabled in the next cabinet meeting which will be convened on December 24, 2010.
ATSUM has long been demanding from the State government a remedy to issues like inadvertent evading of the Rules of the Manipur Reservation of Vacancies in Post and Service (for SC and ST) Act, 2007 and its objection to 200 point roster. Extension of the service of contract basis teachers in the hill districts, discrimination of STs in the promotion of Leading Firemen to under Fire Services, the issue of the recruitment of just 5 STs out of the total 47 (which is just 10 percent) as SOs under Manipur State Rural Road Development Agency, the issue of chief engineer in Public Health Education Department (PHED) etc. wherein the State government has allegedly been acting in contravention to services law.
The tribal students’ body has also highlighted the government’s inability to speed up the progress of Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (IGNTU). According to Robert Leivon of ATSUM, land acquisition for the construction of IGNTU has already been done and funds already released by the Central government but the State government is still unable to produce progress report for the works done so far which has brought its progress to a grinding halt.
It has also been demanding for the revocation of the State cabinet decision of posting senior Manipur Civil Service officer as executive director of DRDA without due consultation with Hill Areas Committee of the State assembly. It has asked for reverting back to the earlier way wherein the concerned deputy commissioner of the district was the executive director as prescribed under the Central guidelines.
ATSUM has also requested the State government against enforcing the new school academic calendar in the hill districts of Manipur.