How Nitish-Lalu risk to put the future of Bihari students in danger
After winning the Assembly elections by raising the local-versus-outsider question last year, Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad and chief minister Nitish Kumar are now batting for reservation in the state government jobs for the Bihar-born candidates.
Lalu kicked up a row by demanding 80 per cent quota for local students in all jobs in Bihar.
He contended that many states such as Jharkhand, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh had such a provision for their students.
Lalu's demand drew prompt support from the chief minister who announced that a party meeting would be convened shortly to bring about a consensus on the issue.
"There is a growing demand for a domicile policy in the state," Nitish said. The JD(U) president made it clear that he was in favour of such a policy in the present context.
"I had supported the domicile issue in Jharkhand," he said. "There is no question of having a different stand on it in Bihar."
The chief minister, however, admitted that any citizen could seek employment anywhere in the country under the constitutional provisions.
"But the domicile issue being raised in different places is not irrelevant under the present circumstances. The locals should get preference, at least in the state services," he said.
"It has become a national issue and the Centre must take initiatives in this regard."
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| Eighty per cent reservation in the government jobs in Bihar would be counterproductive for the locals who go to other states in large numbers. (PTI) |
Lalu and Nitish, who had forcefully raised the Bihari-versus-baahri (outsider) issue in the Assembly polls last year, to neutralise the aggressive campaign of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have received support from the Bharatiya Janata Party as well. Sushil Kumar Modi said that his party would back the government's domicile bill.
As expected, no party appears to be willing to oppose the populist move regardless of its adverse impact on the prospects of Bihari students in the long run.
Social scientists believe that the 80 per cent reservation in the government jobs in Bihar would be counterproductive for the locals who go to other states in large numbers in pursuit of employment every year.
The number of successful candidates from Bihar in the competitive examinations conducted by different state governments is, of course, substantially high.
If all state governments adopt Bihar's proposed model and restrict their jobs to not more than 20 per cent for the outsiders, the Bihari students will be the biggest losers at the national level.
Let us ponder over a few questions.
First, the government jobs are scarce in Bihar as compared to other states.
Thousands of vacancies remain vacant for years for one reason or the other, forcing the local applicants to seek employment elsewhere.
With the industrial scenario remaining bleak, there is no scope for private jobs back home either.
Second, it is the Bihari student who has borne the brunt of the domicile issue in other states over the years.
In Maharashtra, Assam and several other states, they have often been at the receiving end of the violence.
In Mumbai, they have been assaulted several times - even during the recruitment examinations for the central services - by the suspected Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena activists who accused them of poaching on their share of jobs.
Third, many states such as Delhi are already rooting for reservation of seats for local students in their academic institutions.
If Bihar's move spurs other states to bring such institutions under the ambit of their respective domicile policy, what will happen to those who leave Bihar to pursue higher education outside their home state every year?
Moreover, what will happen to the students from the small, poor smaller, poorer and hilly states which do not have enough resources to either groom their own workforce or generate enough employment for their people?
The advocacy for 80 per cent quota, therefore, does not appear to be in the larger interest of Bihari candidates.
Nitish has rightly advised the Modi government to come up with a uniform formula.
If the state governments keep framing different domicile policy on the jobs, the day is not far when no vacancy will be left for the outsiders anywhere because of political reasons.
(Courtesy of Mail Today.)