SHILLONG:
Appealing to all the 60 legislators of the state to pressurise the government for reviewing the 50-year-old state reservation policy, Barilang Pyngrope, an agriculture student of the city, kicked off her signature campaign at Motphran, on January 29.
Launched with an aim to garner public support on the issue, Pyngrope, speaking on the sidelines of the campaign, informed The Meghalayan that she will also be meeting all the legislators seeking their intervention into the matter.
“(We will) have a meeting with all the 60 leaders and carry this proof (signatures) that yes, there are people who want to change this (policy) and carry this forward to the chief minister of the state (for necessary action). We will not quit halfway and I hope that they will actually listen to the voice of the youth,” she said.
Pyngrope informed that the signature campaign has received an overwhelming response from the people. “Over 300 people have come forward to participate in support of the demand,” she said.
Stating that this is not a recent issue as it has been taken up by many leaders in the past but to no avail, Pyngrope said that previous attempts to review the police didn’t yield any positive results due to the lack of political will. “Therefore, I urge everyone to demand the government to review, renew and revamp this “outdated” policy,” she asserted.
Alleging that the reservation policy has no planning and target, she said, “It has no planning, no target. What is the reservation? Who is it for? Who needs it the most? Are the ones who need it getting it? Is it distributed that way? Is it scientific? Does it have planning? Nothing,” Pyngrope said.
Speaking on how some NGOs from the Garo Hills are opposing her campaign, Pyngrope urged them and everyone not to turn this into a political issue. “I am standing not for the Khasi, Jaintia but for the youth of the state as a whole. This campaign that I am doing, I don’t intend to derive any benefit from it… I just want this state to have quality, to progress and not to regress like how we are,” she said.
Maintaining that her campaign is not against the Garo community, Pyngrope said, “I am only asking the government to renew it (policy).”
Referring to the education quota, she said there are no cutoff marks and the policy just mentioned 40 per cent for Garo. “But who needs and who deserves that 40 per cent? Is it not those people from the rural areas of Garo Hills who cannot afford an education? They should be getting it. But if we see, it’s not them who gets it, but the ones with connections. Therefore, we have to be specific, it has to be scientific. I just want the policy to be upgraded, renovated and renewed or else we will have a regression in the state…,” she added.
Speaking about her next course of action, the student of the Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences (SHUATS), Prayagraj, said that she will not do rallies, demonstrations or protests to further the cause. “We will use pen and paper and carry this forward,” she said.