Now, the 11 districts coming under Non-Scheduled areas will also have employment policy in the lines of 13 districts of Scheduled area in Jharkhand, allocating hundred per cent reservation for the local residents in grade III and IV jobs.
land Revenue Minister Amar Kumar Bauri, heading the panel formed by the State Government, said that a consensus has been reached in this regard during the meeting held on Saturday among the committee members and a final report will be handed over to Chief Minister Raghubar Das on April 17. The panel was formed to suggest amendments to the state’s local residents' policy to ensure reservation in grade III and IV government jobs in non-scheduled areas.
The minister said that the11 non-scheduled districts to be benefitted by the decision are Palamu, Garhwa, Hazaribagh, Ramgarh, Koderma, Chatra, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Giridih, Deoghar and Godda. BJP legislators Radha Krishna Kishore, Satyendra Nath Tiwari, Amit Mandal, Raj Sinha and new entrant Ram Kumar Pahan are the other members, besides the then Personnel Department Secretary Nidhi Khare from the Government side.
“More or less the other 11 districts too have similar economic conditions as in the Scheduled districts due to which there is rampant poverty and employment; the State Government is committed towards improving the livelihood of the people of those districts,” said Bauri. Niti Ayog has included most of these districts into the list of most backward districts in the country, he added. “A consensus has reached on all issues during the meeting and we will submit final report to the Chief Minister on April 17, he added. Primarily, the recommendation will be made of the next 10 years,” he added.
Khijri MlA Ram Kumar Pahan, also a member of panel, justifying the decision of the committee said that third and fourth grade jobs in all non-schedule districts will be reserved for locals only.
“Besides, we also reached on a consensus to give relaxation of at least 10 years to locals of Jharkhand against outsiders and giving benefits to ST, SC and OBC communities in preliminary examinations, as given earlier, in all jobs,” said Pahan.
Remarkably, in Scheduled areas of the State, class III and class IV jobs have been reserved for local residents - living in Jharkhand before 1985 - for 10 years beginning July 14, 2016 when the local residents’ policy came into force. legislators, cutting across party lines, had been demanding that class III and class IV jobs be reserved for local residents in non-scheduled areas comprising districts of Palamu, Garhwa, Hazaribagh, Ramgarh, Koderma, Chatra, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Giridih, Deoghar and Godda too.
BJP MlAs, raising a demand in the Assembly during the budget session, had also submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister urging him to look into the matter. Finally, a six-member committee was formed asking it to submit its report within 15 days.
To ensure that no stone is left unturned before coming to any conclusion, the panel visited some of the states like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Uttarakhand, having similar issues and the provisions made for locals in those states.