ITANAGAR, 8 Nov: A group of state civil service aspirants has appealed to the state government to review and make major changes in the existing recruitment rules (RR) of the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Combined Competitive Examination (APPSCCE).
Addressing media persons at the press club here on Monday, one of the aspirants, Tadak Nalo said: “The future of the state, as well as of the aspirants appearing for the state civil service examination will be catastrophic if the present RR is not reviewed precisely and changed.”
He said that the criterion of 80:20 ratio in the recruitment process, which was introduced in 1990, has not been amended adequately. “Thus, it remains obsolete and, going through the present circumstances, it demands review and reforms,” he said.
“The 20 percent unreserved should be removed, thereby making it 100 percent APST reservation like other neighbouring states of Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland. PRC should be made mandatory and a mechanism should be brought to scrutinize the participation of non-APST candidates in the examination,” he said, adding that “a crystal clear definition of non-APST must be introduced” in view of non-APST candidates belonging to certain categories, like Chakma and Hajong and other refugees, residing in the state.
He also said that the gazetted posts of Grades A and B should be exclusively for the APST candidates.
“Many of our people are not aware of the future consequences. If today we don’t review the RR and accordingly change it, the future of our state is alarming and will have great negative impact,” he added.
The group also said that, “since Arunachal Pradesh is a totally ST state, the 20 percent unreserved seats, for which anyone can participate, should be removed.
Another aspirant, Tony Patey, said that there is also a need to review and reform “the unreasonably high physical standard test (PST) and physical efficiency test (PET) for the Arunachal Pradesh Police Service (APPS-DSP), especially for female candidates.”
“Techi Hanyir is the only one who has been selected as DSP till date. The present ratio of males and females is 104:03, respectively. The commission, as well as the state government should look into the matter and decrease the requirement of height qualification,” he said.
“The minimum height of 158 cms for an APST to appear in PST and PET is the reason why we lack lady officers in the state. Therefore, to at least make the ratio even, there should be a considerable lowering of height requirement,” he said.
Meanwhile, Tachin Sidisow said that the commission has never included state subjects in the questions in any APPSCCE. “Therefore, it should be made mandatory to include regional topics in specific and Northeast topics in general in exam patterns,” he said.
“The commission should also ensure the inclusion of indigenous dialects as a mandatory prerequisite for personality tests. There should be non-compliance and non-adherence of yearly publication of examination calendar against the notification of commission on its website,” he added.
The other recommendations of the aspirants include “disclosing adequate information sought through RTI, and complying with the provision of the office memorandum of 2008, thereby maintaining the integrity of personality tests by ensuring the ratio of 1:3.”
The group has submitted a representation to the chief minister with regard to its demand for review and modification of the RR.
