ITANAGAR, 25 Mar: The Arunachal Pradesh Reformer Forum (APRF) said that there should be cent percent job reservation for Arunachal Pradesh Scheduled Tribe (APST) candidates in order to mitigate the issue of unemployment in the state.
Highlighting the grameen dak seva, APRF general secretary Japon Lowang said on Monday that “95 percent of the jobs have been taken by non-APST people in the postal services,” and requested gaon burahs to not issue language certificates to non-APST people.
Lowang also urged the state government to not mix faith, cultures and customs. “Our cultures and customs are the contributions of our forefathers,” he said.
APRF chairman Raj Pao said that there should be 100 percent job reservation in the state for APST candidates, adding that the forum would take up the matter with the government departments.
“We will try to seek 100 percent reservation in all state examinations, including the Arunachal Pradesh Staff Selection Board and the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission,” he said.
The APRF is an arm of the Joint Action Committee for Postal Department, which had earlier taken up the issue regarding compulsory inclusion of local language certificate for the post of grameen dak sevak in the postal department.
The APRF said that it will constitute a committee to take forward the issue of inclusion of local language in various examinations. The committee will comprise two members from each tribe or community, it said.
The forum said that “the process of issuing of domicile certificate in Arunachal Pradesh stands pending till date,” and demanded that non-APSTs who entered the state after 1947 should not be granted domicile certificates by the state representatives.
It also requested the state government to eliminate the 20 percent job reservation for non-APSTs in the state examinations.
The APRF highlighted that there should be mandatory inclusion of knowledge of language of any of the major tribes of the state for any competitive examination as a third language in order to create job opportunities and curb unemployment.
In 2024, during the state Cabinet meeting, it was decided to recognise the languages and dialects of 23 constitutionally recognised indigenous tribes of Arunachal as a third language.