Nagaland: Ad hoc teachers' hunger strike enters eighth-day demanding service regularisation

On Monday, a group of protesting teachers in Nagaland who were hired on an as-needed basis in public schools sent a letter to Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio pleading for his help in granting their demand for service regularisation. As their agitation entered its eighth day, 1,166 members of the All Nagaland Ad hoc Teachers Group refused to accept a government proposal to form a high-powered committee (HPC) to look into their demand.

At least 38 volunteers had been participating in a hunger strike, while others in this area of Naga Solidarity Park continued to demonstrate. Between 1994 and 2012, the agitating instructors were appointed on an as-needed basis in various government schools. The state administration had been arguing that the Supreme Court’s and the High Court’s established policy of not regularising ad hoc appointees prevented it from doing so.