Nagaland recruitment issue raised in Parliament as MP flags discrimination in SSC exams

Raising concerns over systemic recruitment barriers faced by Nagaland’s youth, Lok Sabha Member of Parliament S. Supongmeren Jamir on Wednesday invoked Rule 377 to flag what he described as long-standing discrimination in Staff Selection Commission (SSC) examinations affecting eligible candidates from the state. The issue, he said, has resulted in chronic staff shortages in key central government institutions, particularly Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) in Nagaland.

Addressing the House, Jamir referred to an SSC notification published in Employment News/Rozgar Samachar on March 23, 2013, which advertised vacancies for Programme Executive and Transmission Executive (Production Assistant) posts in Doordarshan and AIR for Nagaland. Despite the availability of 15 posts, no candidate from the state could qualify, largely due to the mandatory Hindi Paper–II requirement in the examination.

The MP argued that the language criterion has consistently placed aspirants from Nagaland at a disadvantage, despite English being the primary medium of education and official communication in the state. He stressed that the requirement bears little relevance to job performance in broadcasting roles within the region.

Jamir further highlighted the acute manpower crisis plaguing public broadcasting institutions in Nagaland. At Doordarshan Kendra, Kohima, 89 out of 144 sanctioned posts remain vacant. The situation is equally grim at All India Radio, Kohima, where the Programme Section is operating with just 15 personnel against a sanctioned strength of 79. Administrative staffing stands at 34 against 90 sanctioned posts, while the Engineering wing has only 41 staff in place out of a sanctioned 91.

According to the MP, these large-scale vacancies have severely undermined the functioning, outreach, and quality of public broadcasting services in the state—services that play a vital role in information dissemination, cultural preservation, and ensuring regional representation in the national media landscape.

Urging immediate corrective measures, Jamir called upon the concerned Union Ministry to initiate a special recruitment drive for Nagaland with appropriate relaxation of the Hindi language requirement. He specifically recommended that both Paper I and Paper II of SSC examinations for such posts be conducted in English to ensure a level playing field for local candidates.

Reiterating his appeal, Jamir emphasized that recruitment policies must be inclusive and sensitive to the linguistic and educational realities of the North Eastern region. He asserted that qualified and deserving youth should not be excluded from central government employment due to language barriers that are unrelated to professional competence.