As the rural polls are getting nearer, the rising animosity between the ruling BJD and opposition BJP is increasingly coming to the fore with every issue getting a political colour. And the reasons are not far to seek.
However, what seems unfortunate is neither of the parties is showing any concern for the cause of the impoverished Block Grant teachers, who are basically catering to the need of the rural students.
There are thousands of such underpaid disgruntled teachers in hundreds of schools and colleges across the Odisha whose long standing demand for abolition of Block Grant and regularization of service with fair remuneration has still fallen on the deaf ear of the Government. Many teachers in this category are also nearing their retirement time but the Government has been reluctant to recognize the worth of their service and do justice to them.
Though it is an issue concerning thousands of teachers and non-teachers and lakhs of poor and underprivileged students, mostly in the rural belt of the State, the parties have preferred to keep mum.
The BJD which has been in power in the State for over last 15 years has avoided the issue on various pleas, the latest being awaiting the decision of Ministerial panel, which it has set up to sort out the problem. Though there have been two such panels to look into the problems of the school and college teachers separately, they have made undue delays in resolving the issue once and for all, clearly for sheer apathy.
Quite astoundingly, the BJP which has been targeting the Naveen Government virtually on every issue these days has not minced a word on the delaying tactic of the Government on the teachers’ plight. The Congress, now on a moribund state, also has been no better.
“The Ministerial committee led by the Finance Minister has already reached a decision on the Block Grant issue of college teachers. Though the things are going on in hush-hush manner, it is believed that the Government is in no mood to abolish Block Grant and implement the Grant-In-Aid policy of 1994. All it wants to do is to hike the salary in the present mode marginally,” lamented a Block Grant college teachers’ leader.
It may be noted that the Block Grant teachers of 662 and 488 categories had boycotted the answer script evaluation works leading to a logjam and after the assurance of the Government that it would positively look into their demands, the teachers had ended their stir.
Similarly, the school teachers also had held the longest ever agitation spanning over months and the Government had adopted a similar stand then.