SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, Feb. 7: Over 25 lakh job aspirants continue to be on tenterhooks as the Jharkhand government is likely to take a call on the new job policy after the byelections are held in Ramgarh.
According to sources, Chief Minister Hemant Soren fears that the new policy, which would stand the judicial scrutiny, may not go well with the electorates in Ramgarh, dominated by the OBC Kurmi community.
Notably, the Jharkhand high court had scrapped the Hemant Soren government’s policy which had made it mandatory for applicants to clear classes 10 and 12 from state schools and also excluded Hindi and English from the list of the regional language papers on December 17 last year. The state cabinet had given its nod to the policy on August 5, 2021.
Thereafter, the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) cancelled 12 recruitment exams scheduled to be held in 2021-2022. A total of 7932 posts were to be filled through these exams and more than 25 lakh candidates had applied.
Some 50 days after the high court trashed the job policy, these applicants have still been waiting for the new policy so that the recruitment process could be started again.
JSSC Chairman Sudhir Tripathy said that he has been waiting for the new job policy to advertise the jobs afresh. “Though the applicants who had applied earlier will be given relaxations in the age limit and fee, it will take four to five months to conclude the recruitment process if it goes as scheduled,” he added.
So far, the Jharkhand government has not challenged the high court order in the Supreme Court nor has opened its mind on the new job policy.
Indications are that the Hemant government would not make any fresh experiment and enact a legally correct policy in conformity with the high court order and pave the way for fulfilling his promise for jobs. Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh held a meeting in this regard in January and asked the secretaries to be ready with the amended appointment rules in conformity with the new job policy.
However, there is no word from the Chief Minister to the officials on this issue except for rhetoric and public posturing on the job policy blaming the people from Bihar and UP for the judicial roadblock to his policy.
Several senior officials confided that there is no movement of files regarding the new policy even as the next cabinet meeting is scheduled to be held on December 10. The budget session begins on February 27.
Given the promises of adopting 1932 cut-off date for a domicile policy, reserving Class III and IV jobs for the locals and giving 67 percent reservation Hemant Soren had made in his election manifesto, it is not possible to frame a legally correct policy. “What is politically suitable for Hemant Soren, will never be legally correct,” said a political watcher.
“So, if he does away with restrictions on students clearing class 10 and 12 exams from state schools it will not be politically correct for Hemant Soren and the JMM-Congress combine. It is possible that the Sadans and tribals may no longer believe him and will call his bluff. And, a majority of the 3.34 lakh electorates in Ramgarh constituency comprises members of the Kurmi community, also described as Sadans (natives). It was to woo Sadans and OBCs that Hemant Soren resorted to a discriminatory job policy,” he pointed out.
In fact, Ramgarh bypoll will be a litmus test for Hemant Soren as there was no such controversy over the job policy in earlier four by-elections which the ruling combine had won. This time, besides the political issues, the unfulfilled promise for offering five lakh jobs to the unemployed youth every year and embarrassment to the government over the job policy will haunt the ruling combine. Also, the AJSU and BJP are united this time to fight the Congress candidate Balram Mahto. The AJSU has fielded Sunita Chaudhary, wife of Giridih MP Chandra Prakash Chaudhary.
Expectedly, the inordinate delay has irked the BJP. BJP legislature party leader Babulal Marandi castigated Hemant Soren, saying 25 lakh unemployed youth are wandering in streets due to his illusory policies. “His purpose is not to restrict outsiders from getting a job in Jharkhand, but to do politics over it. Otherwise he would not have used the Centre’s shoulder to pursue his political agenda and had adopted such a policy for which the State Legislature was competent. He is least concerned with the future of the unemployed youth in Jharkhand,” he maintained.
The by-poll is necessitated after Congress legislator Mamta Devi was disqualified on December 26 following her conviction, and was awarded five years imprisonment in a 2016 rioting and attempt-to murder case.
