POLICE FIRING IN JHARKHAND   

CPI(M) Lambasts State Govt For Ignoring Problems

THROUGH a statement issued on May 29 after its emergency meeting, the  Jharkhand state secretariat of the CPI(M) has condoled the death of Mera Suman Kujur, Sudhir Sahu and others, who were killed in police firing on May 27, and expressed sympathy with all those who were injured due to the police firing and organised violence. Recalling that those killed in police firing included an innocent child and an innocent woman, while several other innocent people were hurt, the secretariat of the CPI(M) said there could not be any justification for killing the innocent by the state police. For this, the political leadership in the government is entirely responsible, the CPI(M) said.

The statement said the Arjun Munda government has underestimated the strong feeling of tribals and other local inhabitants of Jharkhand over not getting job opportunities even after the formation of Jharkhand. The provocative statement and challenging attitude of the Arjun Munda government and his ministers are in fact panicky reactions to growing problems of the people. It is also shocking that the meeting of the National Democratic Alliance in the state, held on May 28, appreciated the police firing that killed and injured innocent people.

The Jharkhand government had called for an examination for appointment of trained primary teachers, to which thousands of innocent unemployed men and women from other states responded, applied and appeared for the examination. This was what provoked the latest agitation. In Jharkhand there are about 10,300 trained unemployed primary teachers, who have been agitating for jobs for long.

The statement recalled that the five-judge special bench of the Ranchi High Court had also stated, in connection with the domicile issue, that the state government could give priority in jobs to local inhabitants. In this background, chief minister Arjun Munda’s statement that he was bound by law to invite applications from outside the state is incorrect, particularly when primary teachers are district level appointments. The trained primary teachers, who are tribals and local inhabitants, could have been called for tests, interviews and appointment in districts as per the priority direction of the High Court.

The High Court had also suggested to the state government to formulate its own local inhabitant policy. But the political process of all-party meeting of assembly groups and formation of a committee for this purpose have been ignored by the Arjun Munda government. His statement that there was no need for a local inhabitant policy is wrong, contrary to the High Court’s suggestion and against the past political process. The chief minister Arjun Munda, on his own, announced language and culture as the basis of a local inhabitant policy for jobs even though a local inhabitant policy for admission to technical institutions is existing. The CPI(M) strongly felt that without any loss of time, as per direction of the Ranchi High Court, the Arjun Munda government must formulate its local inhabitant policy either by advancing the already started political process or by appointment of a judicial commission, failing which there would be repeated agitations for jobs.

The CPI(M) statement also accused the BJP that, for the sake of its image building electoral considerations, it is trying to project the Arjun Munda government as job-giver and projecting the opposition parties as if they were opposed to giving jobs in government departments and public sector bodies. This false image is being created as a cover-up exercise when 1.9 lakh direct and 5 lakh indirect jobs have been lost in the state after the formation of Jharkhand due to the central and state governments’ economic and anti-people policies. Further, job opportunities are being restricted due to the central government’s direction to cut down state government jobs, even though the scope of giving employment by the state government is very limited. Putting blame on the opposition as if they were mainly responsible for restricting the job opportunities in Jharkhand, the BJP is trying to build up its false image for the coming Lok Sabha elections. The aggressive posture of the Arjun Munda government, creating turmoil in the state, is also a pre-planned design for the same purpose. Most of the opposition parties have opposed the Arjun Munda government’s policies.

The CPI(M) statement recalled how it has consistently demanded compulsory recruitment of local inhabitants in all non-gazetted posts in Jharkhand, at least for 10 years, by an amendment to the Public Employment (Requirement as to Residence) Act 1957 by parliament, as was done in case of Tripura, Manipur, Himachal Pradesh and in case of Telengana region after its merger with Andhra Pradesh. That a similar effort must be made for the newly formed Jharkhand state also, was not considered by the BJP-led government in Jharkhand. The CPI(M) has also been demanding priority to tribals in scheduled areas within the framework of compulsory recruitment of local inhabitants, and a reservation policy for the state.