Jharkhand youth up in arms against Raghubar government over one state, two employment policies

Ranchi: At a time when, Narendra Modi led Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government in center has tried to coin most of the important issues of India in ‘One’, like– One Rank One Pension, One Nation One Number, One India One Tax better known as Goods and Services Tax (GST), Jharkhand’s Raghubar Das government has implemented ‘two’ employment policies in the state. The step is hurting unemployed youth of Jharkhand’s eleven districts.

While bringing new Domicile Policy, in April 2016, Jharkhand government had made two different policies for employment in state, for its scheduled and non-scheduled districts—which means, in 13 scheduled districts, candidates from other districts of Jharkhand can’t apply for a job, not even the same scheduled district’s candidate can apply in others, in class III and IV category jobs. However, in the rest 11 districts, which comes under non-scheduled category, candidates not just from entire Jharkhand but from across India can apply and get jobs.

These 11 eleven districts are—Dhanbad, Bokaro, Giridih, Hazaribagh, Chatra, Koderma, Godda, Ramgarh, Deoghar, Palamu and Garhwa.

Since then, the policy is being opposed, but in last one month, it got momentum and unemployed youth of non-scheduled districts have been protesting. Angry youths have hit the streets in many districts, including state capital Ranchi.

“The dual policy will no longer be tolerated by the residents of the non-scheduled area. It has already created scope for people from other states eating into the jobs of the locals. We will not allow outsiders to apply for Class III and IV category job openings,” said Manoj Yadav, a student leader who played an instrumental role in organizing the protest marches in Hazaribagh and Ranchi, while speaking to eNewsroom. Yadav even claimed that around 25000 youth were present in Hazaribagh’s protest.

Recently, a protest was organized by CPI-ML in Giridih, where party leader Rajesh Sinha had led the march. The matter was also raised by the opposition leaders including former chief minister Hemant Soren and Congress state president Ajoy Kumar. Later, some BJP MLAs also demanded change in job policy during the budget session.

To Understanding that the anger of the unemployed youths of non-schedule areas could affect the party’s performance in Jharkhand, the state government has formed a six member committee led by Amar Bauri, Minister of Revenue and Land Reforms to look into the matter and submit a report.

The committee had to submit the report on February 17 itself, but it took a month extension. However, the anger of natives of 11 districts has not subsided.

“We are planning to conduct protests in every district. So far, we have organized rallies in five districts and will soon hold protest in six left, one by one,” added Yadav.