SHILLONG, SEPT 12: Leader of Opposition in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly and former Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma launched a scathing attack on the state government, accusing it of willfully depriving unemployed youth of regular police jobs by deliberately delaying recruitment results in violation of statutory provisions.
“Depriving the job seekers of getting a regular job in police department that means the government is not intending to fill up these post, that is one of the reason why there is a delay in the result of the recruitment process,” Dr Sangma said, asserting that the Meghalaya Police Act, 2010 makes it binding that results be declared immediately after examinations.
He alleged that the government has adopted a “modus operandi” of deliberate delay. “So therefore delaying in giving these result is delaying the opportunity of the job seekers to get into the job, 2,3,4,5,6 months, so you are creating a kind of a situation where government is taking it as a modus operandi to deny the job seekers, to fill up the posts and give the jobs to the job seekers,” he said.
The former Chief Minister warned that repeated failure to address unemployment and deprivation could destabilize democracy itself. “As I have said it is a reputation, the factors leading to this kind of situation where the majority of population particularly the youths, when they see no hope, when they see no appropriate steps or measures being taken by the people in authority or the government in other words to address their concerns of unemployment, concerns of discrimination, concerns pertaining to the sense of deprivation. All these things are capable of creating a situation, thereby somehow defiling the mind of people in as far as being able to contribute for the overall peaceful and vibrant democracy.”
Pointing to Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma’s defence in the Assembly, he criticised the government’s reliance on Home Guard volunteers to manage critical functions. “So what are those different skills and also the knowledge which is linked to knowledge about the law pertaining to controlling and managing the traffic in as far as the motor vehicle act is concerned. What are the training that are giving to the volunteers, volunteers are given basic training in order to make them eligible and that are outsourcing, the police now are outsourcing the volunteers from home guard, it is as simple as that and it is abundantly clear that by doing so you are depriving the job seekers because indirectly by doing so the government is not filling up these posts,” he said.
Condemning what he described as a “malafide intention,” Dr Sangma declared, “Government intend not to fill up these posts, this is a reflection of the malafide intention to deprive the youth of the state from getting the job against those vacancy which are existing, it is condemnable and I condemn it because it is a deprivation of our youth.”
Highlighting the depth of despair, he said, “You all know that there are people who have not been able to pass matriculation, there are youths who have somehow with great difficulty managed to complete their class 12 but today it is not only the job seekers who could not excel in their academic area even those who have excelled in their academic who have cleared at matriculation with flying colours, who have completed their higher secondary examination with flying colours and who have completed professional courses of studies, Engineers and other professionals, master degree holders in science in Commerce and arts and then still waiting for job.”
Citing examples of highly qualified candidates forced to compete for clerical posts, he remarked, “If I remember correctly that in the result recruitment by DSC numbers of youths have opted to apply for the post for LDA in the districts, are engineers and in fact two of them are Bed holders. So that’s what I’m saying you are allowed, you are forcing this youths who have somehow tried their best to reach that level to be a professional to be like aspirations.”
