M.M.Y
Research Scholar, Nagaland University
A serious geology aspirant since 2023, one among thousands with a Master’s degree, fiercely determined to serve the state as an Assistant Geologist, but currently stranded in forced unemployement.
My Math of Despair; 6 posts in 3 years: The recent NPSC Combined Technical Services Examination (CTSE) data reads like a death sentence for the profession;
• 2024: 5 posts advertised (2 reserved for Backward Tribes)
• 2025: Just 1 lonely post advertised
• 2026: Zero posts advertised
Out of only 6 posts in three long years, a general category aspirant has had exactly 4 chances to compete.
The bottleneck worsens if the aspirant looks toward academia or laboratory roles;
• For the NPSC CESE 2026, only 1 post was advertised for Assistant Professor, hyper-restricted by a preference for a Ph.D. in Micropaleontology.
• Under the NSSB CETSE 2025, the solitary vacancy for a Laboratory Assistant (Geology) was reserved for BT.
• Followed by an absolute silence-Zeropostsin NSSB CETSE 2026.
• Reminder for NPSC- Geology is absoutely a Science Subject
Assistant Analyst post under Department of Science and Technology’s eligibility criteria as M. Sc Geology was been excluded while other science honours like Zoology, Botany, Chemistry, Physics and Bachelor’s in Engineering or Technology were included in NPSC CTSE 2025Advertisementwhereas actual eligibility for the post should be Master’s degree in Science and Bachelor’s degree in Engineering and Technology.
This is the girm reality forcing serious aspirants into an agonizing waiting game, watching their hard-earned skills rust.
Beyond Success and Failure: The Need for OpportunityEvery recruitment cycle is a new opportunity to learn, improve and prove. While I accepted the outcomes of previous years and continued to prepare, the absence of vacancies this year left me without the chance to demonstrate how far I had progressed.
Geologists Are Not Exclusive to DGM: The state government operates assumption that Geologists belong exclusively to the Directorate of Geology and Mining (DGM). In a hill state located in high-risk seismic Zone V, plagued by chronic devastating landslides and water scarcity, geoscience expertise is an absolute, cross-departmentalnecessity.The urgent need to deploy Assistant Geologists to secure public infrastructure and life across multiple state engineering wings:
• PWD (Roads and Bridges) & National Highways
• Water Resources Department (WRD) & PHED
• Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA)
• Department of Soil & Water Conservation
• Department of Environment, Forest & Climate Change
• Department of New & Renewable Energy
Confining Assistant Geologists to one Department in Dimapur (DGM) is a policy failure that breeds hopelessness among the youth.
The Government must urgently overhaul the service rules of its engineering, water and disaster wings to integrate dedicated geoscience posts. It is time to clear this artificial bottleneck. Absorb these determined, educated minds into the workforce before a whole generation of Nagaland’s geologists is forced to abandon their passion entirely.
