File Photo
Kohima, June 22 (MExN): The Nagaland lone Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), S Supongmeren Jamir, has written to Nagaland Chief Minister Dr Neiphiu Rio, urging the state government to officially recognise the ‘tribal dialects and languages’ spoken in the state as 'third language' to ensure fair representation of local candidates in the recruitment of Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS) under the Postal Department.
Citing official correspondences, dated May 24, 2023, and dated October 18, 2024, Jamir pointed out that the current online-based recruitment process for GDS posts in the North Eastern region, including Nagaland, requires only a Class X pass certificate and marksheet.
Candidates are shortlisted based on their performance in English and Hindi, the prescribed languages for Nagaland, as per the Department of Posts’ notification No.17-02/2025-GDS, he said.
This undermines the “third dialect/language” that candidates would have otherwise studied or are fluent in beside these two languages and this impacts the performance of local candidates when they compete nationwide, he added.
Jamir further highlighted that three rounds of GDS recruitment have been conducted in the last two years for 364 posts, including a special drive in January 2023 for 143 vacancies for Nagaland.
Referring to communication from the Director General of GDS to the Chief Postmasters General of the Northeast Circle, he maintained that the Department of Posts has agreed in principle to engage with state governments in the region to identify local languages for consideration during recruitment assessments.
This has also been communicated by the Director of Postal Services, Nagaland, to the Home Commissioner of the state government on April 16, 2025, he added.
The MP noted that although the Nagaland government has officially recognised 15 Naga tribes along with Kachari, Kuki, Garo, Mikir and most recently the Tikhir tribe, it is yet to formally recognise their languages as official ‘third languages’ for recruitment purposes.
The Home Department has written to the concerned authorities, including the Commissioner and the Art & Culture Department, seeking their views, he said.
Drawing parallels with Arunachal Pradesh, which faced a similar issue, Jamir said that the state resolved the matter by notifying 23 tribal languages as third languages and informing the Department of Posts.
In response, the Department made a special five-year provision recognising these languages for GDS recruitment in Arunachal Pradesh, he pointed out.
Subsequently, candidates were allowed to submit certification of dialect/language proficiency issued by the Deputy Commissioner or another authorised officer, considering many of these dialects are not taught up to Class X in schools, he added.
In this connection, Jamir appealed to the Chief Minister to take necessary steps to enable similar recognition in Nagaland.
This would create employment opportunities for local youths, he added.
.jpg)
