KOHIMA, July 4: The 5 Tribes Committee on Review of Reservation Policy (CoRRP) has announced it will resume its protest over the lack of progress in reviewing Nagaland’s decades-old reservation system. A sit-in demonstration is planned for July 9 at the Nagaland Civil Secretariat, citing the government’s failure to act on earlier commitments.

The decision was made during a joint consultative meeting held in Kohima, attended by leaders of the Angami, Ao, Lotha, Rengma, and Sumi tribal bodies, along with their youth and student representatives. GK Zhimomi, the committee’s member secretary, said the protest marks the beginning of the second phase of agitation, with further details to be released shortly.

This comes after the state government, during a June 3 meeting, proposed forming a commission to review the reservation policy. However, no official announcement on the commission’s structure or mandate has been made public since then. Zhimomi noted that this commission was the government’s proposal—not a demand from the committee—and questioned its feasibility, saying such a body would take years to produce results.

Adding to the tension, Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio recently suggested that any reforms regarding reservation or administration should wait until after the national Census in 2027. The committee criticized this as a delaying tactic, pointing out contradictions between the CM’s current stance and earlier cabinet decisions.

“The policy has been in place for 48 years—how long can we wait?” Zhimomi asked, stressing that the issue could be resolved quickly if the government showed political will. He also pointed out that a six-point demand had been submitted back in 2016, but the government had yet to respond.

The committee has called for either scrapping the existing reservation policy or ensuring a fair distribution of unreserved quotas among the five tribes. They also claim to have supporting data and have said it will be made public at an appropriate time.