An expert committee appointed by the Meghalaya government to review the state’s reservation policy has received contrasting demands from groups from the Khasi-Jaintia hills and the Garo hills, signalling a widening divide over the issue.

The Meghalaya State Reservation Policy of 1972, which has been in place since the state was formed, reserves 40% of government jobs for the Khasi-Jaintia tribes, 40% for the Garo tribe and 5% for other tribes. The remaining 15% jobs are available for general category candidates.

The last census conducted in 2011 showed that the Khasi-Jaintia tribes make up 46.59% and Garos 31.56% of Meghalaya’s population.

Some Khasi-Jaintia groups have made representations asking for state government jobs to be reserved in proportion to their population while others have demanded a quota of 50% for the community.

In contrast, Garo groups want reservations to be based on social and economic backwardness. In their submissions to the committee, they have pointed out that despite reservations improving the community’s share of jobs at the lower levels of government, Garos remain under-represented in higher-level jobs because of the way promotions are conducted.

The expert committee was formed in May 2023 after the leader of the newly-formed Voice of the People Party in the Khasi Hills went on a 10-day hunger strike demanding a review of the 1972 job reservation policy.

The issue even resonated in the Lok Sabha elections held in April-May with the ruling National People’s Party losing both parliamentary seats in Meghalaya. The party blamed this on the split in the Khasi votes on account of the Voice of the People Party.

In response to the representations from the Khasi-Jaintia groups, the All India Garo Union recently warned of the possibility of riots if the reservation policy is changed.

Why the demand and opposition

Meghalaya has three regions – Garo hills, Khasi hills, Jaintia hills – each named after the tribe that resides there. While the Khasi and Jaintia people share ethnic ties and have similar culture and language, the Garo community is considered ethnically distinct.

Over the years, this has led to sporadic tensions with a section of Khasi-Jaintia nationalists demanding more rights for the “Jaidbynriew” – the indigenous Khasi-Jaintia people – and the Garos seeking a separate state for the community.

Meghalaya was carved out of Assam in 1970. The 1971 census recorded the population of the Khasi-Jaintia tribes at 45% and the Garos at 32%. The 1972 reservation policy gave both groups 40% each of the reserved jobs, a decision criticised till date by Khasi-Jaintia nationalists.

“The allocation of 40% for the Khasi-Jaintia, 40% for the Garos and 5% for other STs [Scheduled Tribes] lacked logical and scientific basis,” claimed Ardent M Basaiawmoit, Voice of People Party chief and Nongkrem legislator. “The percentage was based on assumption rather than on facts.”

In its submission to the expert committee, the Voice of the People Party has suggested that the percentage of reservation for Khasi-Jaintia, Garos, Scheduled Castes and other tribes should be based on their population as per the 1971 census.

However, Garo groups point out the community-wise share of state government jobs is skewed in favour of the Khasi-Jaintias. According to the Census of Meghalaya Government Employees, 1972, about 42% of government jobs were held by members of the Khasi-Jaintia communities while 19.35% were held by Garos.

Even today, the Khasi-Jaintia people dominate government employment, holding 60.86% of state government jobs, as per the Census of Meghalaya Government Employees 2022. This is significantly higher than their population share of 46.59%.

In contrast, the Garo share of government jobs is 30.61% – marginally lower than their population share of 31.56%. The gap between the Khasi-Jaintias and the Garos widens at the top tiers of government, with Khasis holding 64.25% of all gazetted jobs and Garos 29.74%.

“In 50 years of the existence of the Meghalaya Reservation Policy, the Garo community has not achieved its proportionate representation,” Thma U Rangli Juki, a local civil society group, noted in its representation to the committee.

It has called for an evidence-based review of Meghalaya’s reservation policy to make it non-sectarian and constitutionally sound and also sought a deprivation point system to map out the least privileged groups in the state.

“The situation for other minor tribes/Scheduled Caste and OBC [Other Backward Classes] is also not as per the extant reservation policy,” the Thma U Rangli Juki said in its statement.

Rinaldo K Sangma, a member of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council, opposed a population-based reservation policy pointing out that the Garos have “faced historical injustices and economic disparities”.

In a letter to the expert committee on June 14, Sangma sought an increase in the reservation for Garos. Sangma wrote that the Garo Hills, in contrast to the Shillong region, is geographically disadvantaged and has faced “historical injustices and economic disparities” that have hindered the “socio-economic growth and all-round progress” of the Garo community.

Shillong, as the state capital, and its adjacent areas have had significant advantages in governance, infrastructural development and economic opportunities, Sangma wrote. The Khasi-Jaintia communities largely reside in Shillong and its surrounding areas.

Older fault line

The debate on reservations in Meghalaya gained prominence after a postgraduate student from the Khasi community started a public campaign in January 2022, asking for a review of the reservation policy. The student sought equal distribution of government jobs among the three dominant tribes of the state based on the change in their population.

Two months later, the issue gained traction after the Meghalaya High Court in April 2022 stayed all recruitment to government jobs after it discovered that there was no roster in place.

A roster is a register that maintains how many seats or posts are allocated as per the reservation policy in place and which candidate was appointed. For instance, if the government advertises five posts, a roster system states that the first seat is for a general category applicant, the second for an Other Backward Classes candidate, the third for a Scheduled Caste and fourth for a Scheduled Tribe.

The roster also includes details of whether a candidate from a reserved category was appointed as required or a general category applicant was hired and if so, for what reasons.

A senior journalist, who did not want to be identified, compared the roster system to a classroom. “Once you enter the class, your benches or seat is fixed,” he said. “The roster is like that. But suppose one day I do not come, the roster will help ensure that my seat is held.”

The absence of a roster system had emerged while the court was hearing a writ petition filed by a Garo employee Zanera R Marak, who had alleged that the state Social Welfare Department had denied her a promotion and instead promoted Khasi employees junior to her.

Though promotions are not determined by a roster system, the High Court had criticised its absence, describing it as a “deplorable state of affairs which leaves open possibilities of nepotism and arbitrariness and worse forms of subversions”.

AS Siddiqui, senior advocate who represented Marak, told Scroll that during the hearing, the court found that the reservation policy was not being followed for entry-level appointments according to a roster. “The Garo community was not getting 40% jobs, but only 25-30%,” he said.

In May 2022, on the instructions of the court, the Meghalaya government implemented a roster system.

“This opened a Pandora’s box,” said the journalist.

The implementation of the roster system, according to the journalist, made it evident that the reservation policy has been misused.

The Voice of People Party, however, contested this claim.

“The Khasis might have been represented more in the government service but that does not mean that there was illegality,” Voice of the People Party spokesperson Batskhem Myrboh told Scroll. “It was done as per the provisions of the job reservation policy itself.” Myrboh alleged that blaming the Khasis or any other community was “racist”.

State election promises

The implementation of the roster system was also hotly debated ahead of the state elections in Meghalaya in February 2023. The Voice of People’s Party and the United Democratic Party, a tribal-centric regional party with a presence limited to the Khasi Hills, included a promise to review the reservation policy in their election manifestos.

After the Assembly elections, however, the United Democratic Party joined the National People’s Party-led government and went silent on the reservation policy. Although the leaders of the National People’s Party belong to the Garo community, it is a pan-Meghalaya party with members in all regions.

The Voice of People Party, however, went on the offensive, holding a sit-in protest and then a hunger strike that compelled the government to constitute the expert committee.

This has helped the party electorally, said Shillong-based columnist and political commentator Bhogtoram Mawroh. In the Lok Sabha election, the Voice of the People Party won the Shillong seat with Khasis overwhelmingly voting for the party. The electoral success of the Voice of the People Party is being viewed with concern by many within the community.

Mawroh said that the Voice of the People Party is built on the idea of Khasi victimhood, similar to the narrative fostered by Hindutva groups that Hindus are in danger in India despite being the majority community.

He said that along with mobilising Khasis on the matter of reservation, the Voice of the People Party also made openly religious appeals to the community with quotes and references to the Bible. It created the impression, according to Mawroh, that “they are the chosen group meant to lead the state into prosperity where Khasis will have the first claim over resources”.

For now, the National People’s Party is playing it safe. Party leader Kharlukhi told Scroll that the government is waiting for the expert committee to publish its report.