SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, Jan. 24: The Assembly committee formed to investigate the number of locals who have got jobs in the private companies in view of the State government’s reservation policy will find itself in a dilemma to certify who are the locals in Jharkhand.
For, the ruling JMM-Congress has trashed the 1985 cut off date which the previous BJP government led by Raghubar Das had adopted in 2016 to define a local in Jharkhand.
The Hemant Soren government thereafter got a bill passed in the Assembly which defined a local who had their names recorded in the 1932 land survey. The bill is yet to get the Governor’s assent.
So, the big question is who are the locals now in view of the Hemant Soren government supported by Rahul Gandhi and Lalu Prasad. Will it still stick to the 1932 khatiyani cut off or adopt the 1985 deadline to define a local?
Notably, the Jharkhand government, along with Andhra Pradesh and Haryana has enacted a law to give 75 percent jobs to local residents in private sector jobs. Employers will have to reinstate 75 percent of local candidates on posts with salary and wages up to Rs 40,000. This Act will apply to shops, establishments, mines, undertakings, industries, companies, societies, trusts, liability partnership firms, partnership firms and every person and institution employing 10 or more persons. But this act will not apply to the Central and State Government Undertakings.
The committee, headed by JMM’s Nalin Soren, has been asked to submit its report within 45 days. The other members of the committee are Sudivya Kumar Sonu (JMM), Pradeep Yadav (Congress), Narayan Das (BJP) and Bhushan Bara (Congress).
One of the members of the committee, requesting anonymity, said that the domicile policy, enacted by the Raghubar Das government, will guide us to identify locals in private companies but we can’t say it publicly. “For, our sentiment is attached with 1932 and we had won the election promising to define locals on the 1932 land records,” he pointed out.
Senior JMM member Stephen Marandi also said that the government will follow the existing 1985 cut off date till the new 1932 policy is enforced in the State, “We apprehended that the 1932 domicile policy would be challenged in a court of law. So, we said that it will be enacted after the Central government includes it in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution giving it immunity to judicial scrutiny,” he added.
Nalin Soren, the chairman of the House committee, said that the panel will hold its first meeting on January 30 to chalk out the action plan as how to identify a local, admitting the fact that a 1932 khatiyani holder is yet to be categorised a local in Jharkhand. He refused to elaborate it further.
Sudivya Kumar Sonu, another JMM member, said the law, enacted in September last year giving 75 percent jobs to locals in the private sector, is not being implemented in Jharkhand. “The committee will review the reports on employees given by the companies and will ask why they are not implementing the state’s policy,” he added.
Sonu said that it is a fact that jobs in the government sector are limited. “But we can accommodate a large number of our manpower in the private sector and stop migration,” he added.
Congress member Pradeep Yadav was more forthright as to how the committee will investigate a genuine local. “We don’t need a government definition of a local for our job. It is not a question of 1932 or 1985. We will see whether a company has given jobs to the residents of displaced villages or not. Whether the employees belong to the locality where a factory is situated or not. He or she should have a domicile certificate issued by the Jharkhand government. Moreover, whether the company has considered the caste equation of the area or not,” he pointed out.
Yadav said that more than 4000 private companies are working in the state. A strategy will have to be prepared to provide jobs to the local youth in all these companies. Otherwise this law has no value, he added.
In fact, the committee had been formed after Sonu and Yadav had raised this issue in the House on December 21 last year, under the calling attention motion.
They had questioned that the local candidates are not getting jobs in the private sector of Jharkhand under the State’s reservation policy.
In response, Labour Minister Satyanand Bhokta said that 404 employers have registered themselves. “For this, the process of setting up a portal is going on. Once it gets prepared, it will be made public through which the companies can register themselves on it,” said the minister.