Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, Jul 12: Following widespread criticism on various social media platforms, the planning department on Sunday postponed the interview for the Chief Minister’s Fellowship Programme (CMFP) which had been slated to be held on Monday.
The department has issued a notice on its website, informing about the postponement of the interview.
“Due to unavoidable circumstances in view of Covid-19 situation, the interview for the CM fellowship scheduled to be held on 13th July has been postponed till further intimation,” the notice reads.
The department had on 9 July shortlisted 30 candidates for interview for eight posts of fellowship under the CMFP. It is said that, out of the 30 applicants, only four belong to the APST category.
Just after the short-listing of the candidates, the department drew flak from several quarters, questioning the procedure of recruitment. The critics alleged that the planning department had deliberately set the qualification criteria to discourage APST candidates.
The All Nyishi Students’ Union (ANSU) had on Saturday called for immediate withdrawal of the shortlisted candidates and cancellation of the interview. The union stated that a ratio of 80:20 in favour of APST applicants must be strictly followed in the selection. It also demanded reduction in the experience qualification of the applicants from 5 years to 1-2 years, so that APST applicants may get the opportunity to participate.
CMFPs are being implemented in several states of India with the aim of attracting talented people from across the country to bring reforms in governance by adopting the best practices in various states of the country.
The fellows are engaged in key departments to work on key reforms. It is a scheme-based engagement, and does not offer the right to claim a permanent job. Currently, there are eight fellows under the CMFP in Arunachal, out of whom three are APSTs.
The fellows are given a fixed remuneration of Rs 70,000 per month.
