RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, March 14: The issue of recruitment policy rocked the Jharkhand Assembly again today, as the BJP refused to allow the question hour to begin, demanding that Chief Minister Hemant Soren clarify his position on the new policy, which was approved by the State cabinet.
As the house came into the motion at 11am, the BJP MLAs went into the well and started raising slogan ‘60-40 Nai Chalto’ and continued doing so till Speaker Rabindranath Mahto adjourned the proceedings at 11.30am till 12.30pm.
Before the house was adjourned the speaker requested the BJP legislators to continue the question hour but the latter did not budge.
The BJP MLAs had already given indication of disrupting the proceedings as they protested outside the assembly against the recruitment policy before the beginning of the session. Wearing T-shirts carrying the message ‘60-40 Nai Chalto..1932 Ki Bhelo (60-40 will not be acceptable, what happened to 1932)’ they were noticed sitting at the assembly gate. Under the new policy, 60 percent of seats will be reserved for various underpriviledged categories while 40 percent seats are open for all.
MLA Manish Jaiswal said that the government’s policy regarding the recruitment is not clear. According to him, the state government neither has a policy nor intention to provide jobs.
Notably, the State government announced a recruitment policy after a cabinet meeting. The policy does not give any privilege to locals. Jaiswal said the government is trying to bring recruitment policy through the back door. “When the session is going on, this policy should have been brought in the house first before taking a final decision on it in the cabinet,” Jaiswal said.
Amidst the uproar, the speaker took the call attention notices. On the other hand, the BJP MLAs reached the well creating ruckus. Due to continuous uproar, the speaker adjourned the proceedings of the House till 2:00 pm at 12.53pm.
After the proceedings of the House started at 12.36pm, the BJP MLAs started the ruckus again. MLA Neelkanth Singh Munda sought reply from the chief minister regarding the status of 1932 Khatiyan based identity, recruitment policy and explanation of 60-40.
“The opposition wants the proceedings of the House to go smoothly. There has been continuous disruption in the house for two-three days regarding the job policy. The opposition does not have much of a topic. Employment is the burning issue of the state. It just wants answers on two-three things from the government. Government should tell ‘what happened to 1932’, ‘what is pre-2016 recruitment policy’ and ‘what is 60-40’. The BJP wants the chief minister to answer on this,” Munda said.
