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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Rightful job share eludes tribals by Supriya Sharma

Rightful job share eludes tribals by Supriya Sharma

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published Published on Nov 7, 2011   modified Modified on Nov 7, 2011

A stream of men holding bows and arrows slid through the lanes of Raipur's Civil Lines, coming to a startling stop outside chief minister Raman Singh's residence on November 1, the founding day of Chhattisgarh. As the police whisked them away, the tribal protestors told journalists they were asking for the most basic constitutional right: proportional reservation in government jobs. 

Eleven years ago, the sprawling state of Madhya Pradesh was trimmed to create a new state, which, barring India's Northeast, had the highest chunk of tribals in its population. With 32% of its people tribal, Chhattisgarh outstripped Jharkhand (26%), and Orissa (22%). Politicians proclaimed the new state would give voice to central India's tribals, but 11 years later, it's a measure of their voicelessness that Chhattisgarh's indigenous communities have not managed to wrest their share in government jobs, unthinkable for a social group as large anywhere else in India. 

The constitutionally mandated affirmative action gives dalits and tribals, or scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (SCs and STs), a share in government jobs proportionate to their population. Madhya Pradesh had 20% ST and 16% SC population. 

This ratio changed to 32% ST and 12% SC in the newly created Chhattisgarh, necessitating a change in the job pie. But the change is yet to happen. "We are still stuck with only 20% of jobs," said BPS Netam, a retired civil servant, who has now turned to full time activism under the aegis of the tribal government employees association. 

"We have been deprived an additional 12% jobs, which if you take 4 lakh as an estimate of government jobs generated 2000 onwards, works out to half lakh jobs lost." However, Chhattisgarh government spokesperson Baijendra Kumar claimed this was not the case, since in tribal majority districts, recruitment for lower grade jobs was proportionate to their population, as high as 70%. An authoritative figure of government jobs across grades was not available. 

In post-liberalisation India, government employment may be passe for the metropolitan middle class. But, in Chhattisgarh's backwaters, where life proceeds unhurriedly, barring pockets where mining and power firms have arrived to a less than rousing welcome, the government is still the only employer of hope. 

"It's a family's ticket out of drudgery," said a school teacher, the first literate member of his family of tribal farmers. "A government job means the hope of building a concrete house, owning a motorcycle, sending children to an English medium school." 

It also means a chance for tribals to talk to one of their own in intimidating government offices. "I was briefly the collector of Kanker in Bastar. When tribals would come to see me, I would slip into their langauge. They would be instantly at ease and would speak more confidently about their troubles," recalled Netam.

The Times of India, 8 November, 2011, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Rightful-job-share-eludes-tribals/articleshow/10649894.cms


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