| Staff Reporter |
Itanagar, Aug 4: The Arunachal Frontier Tribal Front (AFTF) on Tuesday announced that it will organize a peaceful protest rally on August 8 in support of its demand for scrapping of the 80:20 recruitment ratio in the state government jobs.
Addressing a press conference, AFTF chairman Tadak Nalo said the issue gained prominence in 2021 following the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Combined Competitive Examination, when a non-tribal candidate, Anmol Singh, topped the merit list.
Nalo recalled that the then All Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union (AAPSU) president Hawa Bagang had also demanded the abolition of the 80:20 reservation ratio.
He said that in 2022, the state government constituted a High-Level Committee under the then Education Minister Taba Tedir to examine the issue. According to Nalo, the committee submitted its report after 17 months, but no decision has been taken despite several meetings with the Chief Secretary.
The AFTF chairman said the organisation had repeatedly submitted memorandums, conducted a signature campaign and launched other democratic movements, but claimed the government had not responded to its demands.
Alleging that the government has delayed the issue for the past four years, Nalo described the repeated formation of committees as an "eyewash" aimed at postponing action.
He asserted that the existing High-Level Committee report is sufficient to scrap the 80:20 ratio and opposed the constitution of another committee. He also demanded that the Permanent Resident Certificate (PRC) policy be made permanent.