Shillong, Oct 31: The North East Students’ Organization (NESO) held an Executive Council Meeting today. The meeting was attended by the constituent units of NESO whereby numerous topics concerning the welfare of the indigenous inhabitants of NE were thoroughly discussed.
The NESO is a conglomeration of the All Assam students’ Union (AASU), Twipra Students’ Federation (TSF), All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU), All Manipur Students’ Union (AMSU), Khasi Students’ Union (KSU), Garo Students’ Union (GSU), Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) & the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF).
The discourse ranges from issues pertaining CAB, NRC, NEEPCO, NRL, ILP, education, economy, employment, mega dams, NESO General Conference, NESO elections, etc.
On the draconian Citizenship Amendment Bill, the NESO will further intensify its resentment by staging protest demonstrations in all NE state capitals on the 18th November 2019.
Furthermore, the Organisation will submit a memorandum expressing its opposition of the Bill to the Prime Minister and Home Minister of India through the Governors of the respective NE states.
Although the Central Government has mooted the implementation of NRC on a National scale, yet the NESO are of the opinion that NRC like exercises should be executed state-wise taking into consideration the modalities suitable to the conspicuous aspects of the states.
The NESO also once again reiterates its demand for overall implementation of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) in all NE states. The proposed National Education Policy was also discussed whereby certain sections of the policy were found to be ill-favoured towards the region.
The organization strongly resents the emphasis given to the Hindi language and belittling of the English language. However it was agreed that an approach for prioritizing local indigenous languages would be a favourable factor for the NE region.
Due to the lack of educational institutions especially those imparting professional courses in the region, NESO seeks more packages from the central government for the establishment of Universities, medical, engineering, coaching (civil services, medical, engineering etc.) and management institutions. Furthermore NESO will task itself with the setting up of coaching centres for professional courses.
Other issues include the opposition to the proposed merging of NEEPCO with the central based NHPC and the government’s plan to sell out the Numaligarh Refinery Limited to private parties. In this context, seperate memoranda will be send to the Power & Petroleum Ministries.
NESO also demands seperate economic and employment policies for the region. With regards to central government sectors located in the NE, the NESO seeks a 100% job reservation in the group C & D category for indigenous inhabitants.
Presence of military and paramilitary forces within educational institutions in Manipur and elsewhere in the region hampers the educational atmosphere, NESO demands the immediate vacation of such forces.
The meeting concludes with the decision that the next General Conference and elction of office bearers of the NESO will be hosted by TSF in Tripura tentatively on the last week of January said Mr Samuel B Jyrwa Chairman NESO.
