AJSU party Chief and former Deputy Chief Minister Sudesh Kumar Mahto on Tuesday came out of political oblivion seeking higher percentage of reservation in jobs for reserved category candidates of the State. He demanded that the percentage of reservation should be raised from 50 to 73 per cent in the State.
Talking to the media persons at his official residence in Ranchi on Tuesday, Mahto also demanded the State Government to implement domicile policy so that social justice could be done with the people of the State.
“We just want to say that out of 50 per cent, there is a provision of 14 per cent provision for OBC category which need to be raised up to 27 per cent. Since, it has already been recommended earlier by a cabinet sub-committee formed by the earlier coalition government in the year 2001, of which, I was also a member. As per the recommendations made by the sub-committee, there was a provision of increasing reservation of OBCs from 14 to 27 per cent, 26-32 per cent for ST and 10-14 per cent for SCs,” said Mahto. The Sub-committee also consisted of the then Welfare Minister Arjun Munda, lalchand Mahto, PN Singh, Ramchandra Kesri, Ramjilal Sharda, he added.
Since there were NDA governments both at the Centre and at the State, Sudesh said, he was just trying to push recommendations made by the earlier government so that initiatives could be taken to put it into the 9th Schedule by this government. Mahto further added that there were 27 per cent reservation for the OBC in the undivided Bihar, but it was reduced to 14 per cent on the directions of High Court, but reservation could be increased in special circumstances.
“As more than one lakh recruitments are being done by this government, we believe that the limitation of reservation must be raised before it,” said the AJSU Chief. He gave examples of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Odisha where reservations for the reserved categories have been raised up to 69, 73, and 65 percent respectively.
“Hence, the state government here should also take initiatives to bring it to the ninth schedule and send a proposal to the centre to increase the limitations of reservation in the state,” said the former Deputy CM. Stressing on implementation of domicile policy for the state, Mahto said that recruitment policy was as important as domicile policy for the state.
“There is no problem for those who are Adivasi-Moolwasi, but to protect the rights of those who have come from outside to earn their livelihood, the government must bring a domicile policy by fixing a cut-off date for them,” he said. Mahto rejected the allegations made by the state government that they have not submitted their proposal in writing in this regard.