Our fellow citizens from North-East India have to suffer from discrimination daily. We saw how during the initial days of the pandemic, people from the North-East were being harassed, abused, being called ‘Corona’, and being told to go back to China. This is just a few of the many types of injustices they have to go through.
In a recent incident, a woman from Assam was applying for a job online and the website kept rejecting her application because of her surname – Chutia. According to Times Now, the government-run National Seed Corporation Limited (NSCL) website kept notifying her to use “proper naming” words.
While for many people, her surname may sound like a popular slang. However, ‘Chutia’, pronounced as “Sutiya”, is one of the oldest indigenous communities of the state.
Taking to Facebook, the woman expressed her frustration over the incident and the general lack of awareness of North-eastern culture in the rest of India. The post has been now deleted, but screenshots of her post are being widely circulated.
The woman hails from Gogamukh town and holds a Masters degree in Agricultural Economics and Farm Management.
“The reason (for rejection of application) is nothing but my surname and the portal keeps on saying to use ‘proper naming’ words. I feel really sad and frustrated at times explaining people that I am not using slang but it’s a community where I belong,” she wrote.
She went on to mention a hard-hitting situation:
“We really need to do something to identify ourselves and make ourselves recognisable nationally. Imagine yourself going for a presentation and the panel laughs at you at the very first introduction speech.”
Have a look at her post here:
Times Now reports that the woman had mailed the help-desk of the organisation but only received a system-generated reply. A day later, her application was accepted. However, she is unable to move ahead due to other problems.
According to News18, NSCL responded to the incident and said that the glitch had been due to a “flaw in coding” and that they were working towards getting it fixed.
Most people from the Chutia community reside in Upper Assam districts. However, many also reside in Lower Assam and Barak Valley. The people of the community are descendants of the Chutia dynasty, which reigned from 1187 to 1673 in the present-day Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
There is a terrible lack of awareness about North-Eastern communities in the rest of the country, because of which they are subjected to everyday harassment and discrimination. We hope that with Priyanka’s post, people can take a step forward in their awareness of the indigenous cultures in the country.