SHILLONG : The Khasi Hills Achick Joint Action Committee (KHAJAC) has approached the Meghalaya Governor C. H. Vijayashankar seeking a change in the language requirement for District Selection Committee (DSC) recruitment in Khasi Hills.
The organisation wants Garo-speaking candidates living in Khasi Hills to be allowed to take DSC examinations in Garo, instead of being restricted to Khasi.
Manuel CH Marak, who represented the KHAJAC delegation, said the government’s present arrangement requires Khasi in Khasi Hills and Garo in Garo Hills. He questioned why candidates should lose the option of using their mother tongue when both Khasi and Garo have been recognised as official languages of Meghalaya.
“The Government of Meghalaya they had recognized the Garo and Khasi as official language, and the Government of Meghalaya they are trying to include Garo and Khasi in the Eighth Schedule of Indian Constitution,” Marak said.
He said the language requirement has created difficulties for Garo residents of Khasi Hills who want to compete for jobs through the DSC system.
“So here in the Khasi Hills region, there are more or less four lakhs of the populations residing here in the Khasi Hills region, Garo communities,” Marak said. According to Marak, many Garo families have been living in Khasi Hills since before the British period and should not be treated differently in government recruitment.
He said the community feels excluded because candidates are expected to compete in a language that may not be their mother tongue.
“Our people they cannot compete in the District Selection Committee because of their language,” he said. The KHAJAC is seeking an amendment to the existing provision so that candidates in Khasi Hills can choose between Khasi and Garo when appearing for DSC examinations.
“If the Garo appear the DSC exam, that means they should give us the opportunity to appear in our own mother tongue,” Marak said. The delegation also wants the arrangement to work both ways, with Khasi-speaking candidates in Garo Hills being given the option to use Khasi.
Marak said this could strengthen understanding between the two communities rather than keeping the languages confined to separate regions.
“Once when they had recognize this Khasi and Garo as official language, so this Khasi language will be stuck in the Khasi Hills region only. So it should be go to Garo Hills also… in the whole state,” he said.
The KHAJAC had earlier raised the matter with Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma and has now submitted its concerns to the Governor.
Marak said the delegation was assured that the matter would be taken up with the Chief Minister.
“He said that he will take up this issue very seriously and he will negotiate with the honorable Chief Minister and he will discuss regarding this issue,” Marak said. The KHAJAC has described the present arrangement as discriminatory and unconstitutional in its impact on Garo residents of Khasi Hills.
“We feel that the Government of Meghalaya they’re doing unconstitutional towards the community of Garo community in the Khasi Hills region,” Marak said.
The organisation has appealed to the government to review and modify the provision, saying the language choice should apply across Meghalaya.
Marak made it clear that the delegation’s meeting with the Governor focused only on the DSC language issue.
“No, only this issue, only this issue. Rather than there is no any other issue,” he said when asked about other demands.
