Merit Not Backdoor Appointment

Enough Is Enough

"The world suffers a lot. Not because of bad people but because of the silence of the good people" (Napoleon Bonaparte).

“I’ve been appearing for NPSC exams for the last 7 years, cleared prelims in all the 7 attempts, cleared the mains 5 times, but didn’t clear the interview -- for reasons best known.  I’ve spent the best years of my life preparing for government jobs; now, I don’t see any chance of getting through. Overage bhi hoi jaishe” (Dejected and hopeless, Kevi shared this story with his best friend).

“All my life, I wanted to be an officer like the one from the other village. I studied hard, stood 1st in all examinations I’ve taken. But getting a government job seems to be impossible. Some elders and friends tell me that unless I have political backup and officers in the department, my dream will never come true. I thought government jobs are open to all and are awarded on a merit basis, but this doesn’t seem to be the case in Nagaland” (Sangti from Mon town). 

Stories like these abound. We’ve heard them and know many more. Your story could be one of them. Thousands of young people in Nagaland graduate from college every year with lots of hopes and dreams. But the reality awaiting them is uncertainty and hopelessness. With no private sector jobs in the state, no corporations, industries, or even infrastructure to speak of, the one dream young people have is to land one of the few government jobs. Nagaland is raising a generation of youngsters without hope, without a future. Given the few openings each year for the thousands unemployed, only a tiny number of exceptionally gifted people have any chance of finding a job, and the rest go to the few lucky ones with political backing. “Merit” as an employment criterion in today’s Nagaland government does not exist.

So what is the remedy for nepotism and backdoor appointments? Our repeated pleas to the government have had no effect, and public cries for justice to our political leaders have fallen on deaf ears. Still, we cannot give up; we cannot live in despair; we want a future with hope. We must ensure that government jobs are made available to everyone, based on merit, not distributed to the well-connected few.

The elders keep telling us that young people are the future. They are right, but don’t young people belong to the present as well? And what if the future we are being handed has no jobs, no future? What if we don’t like what we are getting? It is time for the younger generation to say Enough is Enough. It is time to do something different -- beyond appealing to the government and our public leaders. Here is the plan.

The Tenyimi Students Union, Dimapur, is making an urgent call to every corner of Nagaland to support a campaign for YES to Merit and NO to Nepotism & Backdoor Appointments. This is a campaign for all young people to reclaim our rightful present and a just future. The only way for us to ensure a future with hope is to act now. Young people have the power, individually and collectively, to bring change in our society. And that change needs to start with me and you. I am ready, are you?