Reservation Row: 5 tribes set to agitate despite Nagaland government’s invitation for dialogue

• KOHIMA — In the backdrop of the Five Tribes Committee on Review of Reservation Policy’s decision to hold phase-wise agitation beginning on Thursday, the Nagaland government has convened a meeting with the representatives of the committee and leaders of the five tribes on June 3.
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• The five tribes—represented by Angami Public Organisation, Ao Senden, Lotha Hoho, Rengma Hoho and Sumi Hoho—are demanding the government either scrap the 48-year-old job reservation policy or allocate the remaining unreserved quota to the five tribes.
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• In a meeting notice, the chief secretary has requested the convener of the committee and the respective presidents of the tribal apex bodies, along with two representatives each, to attend the meeting “to discuss the policy on reservation in government employment”.

Also read: Nagaland reservation row: Five tribes to stage protest over lack of policy review

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• The meeting has been scheduled for 11:00 am at the Secretariat Conference Hall, Civil Secretariat, in Kohima.
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• The committee’s member secretary GK Zhimomi told Eastern Mirror that they are still going ahead with the agitation. He explained that they received the notice at the eleventh hour, and cannot hold back their planned agitation now.
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• The first phase agitation, scheduled for May 29, would be held in the district headquarters inhabited by the five tribes.
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• On the day of the meeting with the government, Zhimomi said they would sit across the table, and simultaneously, agitation will continue.
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• While hoping for the best from the meeting, he added that the ‘government has to do some justice.’
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• Earlier during the committee’s meeting with five tribes’ apex bodies along with their youth and student organisations in Chümoukedima, it resolved to hold phase-wise agitation starting on May 29. The agitation was called following the expiry of the committee’s ultimatum to the government on May 26.
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• Formed in August 2023, the committee submitted a representation to the government requesting a review of the reservation policy. But the state government did not respond to the committee. This was followed by serving a 30-day ultimatum to the government on April 26, which expired on Monday with no response.
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• The reservation policy for Backward Tribes (BT) in Nagaland was implemented in 1977 for ten years but was extended till further notice in 1989.
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• It initially allocated a 25% quota for seven tribes in non-technical and non-gazetted posts for a period of 10 years. These tribes were designated as ‘backward’ based on their educational and economic disadvantage and limited representation in state services. This reservation has since increased to 37%, with 25% for the seven eastern Naga BT tribes and 12% for four other BT tribes.
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• Government forms committee
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• The state government has formed a committee to examine and submit its findings on the policy for reservation in government employment within 3 months.
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• The five tribes committee informed that the state government had written a letter to its convener on May 25, mentioning the committee constituted. They received the letter only on Wednesday, it stated.
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• “The letter simply informs that the state government on May 7, 2025, had constituted a committee to examine and submit its findings on policy for reservation in government employment within 3 months,” the committee stated.
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• The state government further requested the committee to reconsider the proposed agitation.
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• After consultation with the 5 tribes’ apex bodies, the committee unanimously decided that the state government’s letter “not only lacks sincere commitment but fails to address” the core concerns and issues raised in the memorandum of September 20, 2024.
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• The proposed agitation will go ahead as planned, it added.