Gujarat govt's 'political move' to appoint lokrakshak constables: HC seeks report

By A Representative
The Gujarat High Court has issued notice to the state government regarding alleged refusal to appoint Class-III lokrakshak unarmed police constables, armed police constables and jail sepais in pursuant of advertisement by the Lokrakshak Bharti Board dated August 15, 2018 taking into account the meritorious criterion.
Justice AC Rao issued the notice after hearing senior High Court advocate Anand Yagnik, who appeared in the court on behalf the aggrieved candidates. The matter is now listed for October 6 for further hearing.
The petition, which concerned appointment of male candidates, sought “quashing” and “setting aside” of the entire recruitment process, undertaking the process of recruitment afresh, said, his clients were meritorious and yet they were denied appointment.
Alleging that the recruitment of more than 12,000 lokrakshaks was carried out by the state government in violation of judgment and order passed by a division bench of the High Court, Yagnik said, more than 5,000 women candidates were appointed after lowering the cut-off marks at the fag end of the recruitment process, that too after final selection list/merit list was published, and only appointment letters were to be issued.
Claiming that the whole process of lowering down the cut-off marks for women candidates was “absolutely illegal and unconstitutional”, he said, as many as 2,485 supernumerary posts were created only for women candidates. These posts, he added, were filled up with women candidates by adopting the policy of what is called reverse discrimination.

Calling the recruitment process and the appointments were illegal and unconstitutional, because 100% supernumerary posts were allocated to women candidates in violation of the 33% reservation for women, Yagnik said, this was done in order to “accommodate” as many general category candidates from upper castes as possible.
He said, supernumerary posts are created by way of an exception in order to meet with exigencies and not otherwise, adding, these cannot be created on such a large scale by changing rules of the game by sacrificing merit.

'Political move'

The petition alleges that the state government changed the criterion of recruitment against the backdrop of agitations that broke out between December 2019 to February 2020 among the candidates who had applied for the post of lokrakshaks. It got intensified in January-February, with women candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC questioning manner and method of implementation of 33% for women in the state employment.
Alongside, said the petition, candidates coming from upper caste “threw their hat in the spat of agitation”, with hundreds and thousands started getting together at Gandhinagar with rival claims, which was happening ahead of the visit by US president Donald Trump in Ahmedabad on February 24, for which preparations had begun in January 2020.

Agitation in Gandhinagar

According to petition, if the agitation had continued, attention of the world media would have been diverted from the Trump event, pointing towards unemployed youth, particularly women, seeking state employment by way of agitation. It would have created “a difficult and embarrassing situation” as violation of reservation for backward class and deprivation of state employment to women coming from backward classes would have got media attraction.
It is against backdrop, said the petition, that compelled the state government to take into account the caste dynamics to resolve the matter at the earliest in a manner that satisfied everybody.
“The political balance between upper caste and backward class for party in power became a sutra to be followed even at the cost of violating the judgment and order passed by the Supreme Court and the High Court of Gujarat”, alleged the petition.

Comments

India's chemical industry: The missing piece of Atmanirbhar Bharat

By N.S. Venkataraman* Rarely a day passes without the Prime Minister or a cabinet minister speaking about the importance of Atmanirbhar Bharat . The Start-up India scheme is a pillar in promoting this vision, and considerable enthusiasm has been reported in promoting start-up projects across the country. While these developments are positive, Atmanirbhar Bharat does not seem to have made significant progress within the Indian chemical industry . This is a matter of high concern that needs urgent and dispassionate analysis.

Remembering a remarkable rebel: Personal recollections of Comrade Himmat Shah

By Rajiv Shah I first came in contact with Himmat Shah in the second half of the 1970s during one of my routine visits to Ahmedabad , my maternal hometown. I do not recall the exact year, but at that time I was working in Delhi with the CPI -owned People’s Publishing House (PPH) as its assistant editor, editing books and writing occasional articles for small periodicals. Himmatbhai — as I would call him — worked at the People’s Book House (PBH), the CPI’s bookshop on Relief Road in Ahmedabad.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Muslim women’s rights advocates demand criminalisation of polygamy: Petition launched

By A Representative An online petition seeking a legal ban on polygamy has been floated by Javed Anand, co-editor of Sabrang and National Convener of Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD), inviting endorsements from citizens, organisations and activists. The petition, titled “Indian Muslims & Secular Progressive Citizens Demand a Legal Ban on Polygamy,” urges the Central and State governments, Parliament and political parties to abolish polygamy through statutory reform, backed by extensive data from the 2025 national study conducted by the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA).

As 2024 draws nearer, threatening signs appear of more destructive wars

By Bharat Dogra The four years from 2020 to 2023 have been very difficult and high risk years for humanity. In the first two years there was a pandemic and such severe disruption of social and economic life that countless people have not yet recovered from its many-sided adverse impacts. In the next two years there were outbreaks of two very high-risk wars which have worldwide implications including escalation into much wider conflicts. In addition there were highly threatening signs of increasing possibility of other very destructive wars. As the year 2023 appears to be headed for ending on a very grim note, there are apprehensions about what the next year 2024 may bring, and there are several kinds of fears. However to come back to the year 2020 first, the pandemic harmed and threatened a very large number of people. No less harmful was the fear epidemic, the epidemic of increasing mental stress and the cruel disruption of the life and livelihoods particularly among the weaker s...

Farewell to Robin Smith, England’s Lionhearted Warrior Against Pace

By Harsh Thakor* Robin Smith, who has died at the age of 62, was among the most adept and convincing players of fast bowling during an era when English cricket was in decline and pace bowling was at its most lethal. Unwavering against the tormenting West Indies pace attack or the relentless Australians, Smith epitomised courage and stroke-making prowess. His trademark shot, an immensely powerful square cut, made him a scourge of opponents. Wearing a blue England helmet without a visor or grille, he relished pulling, hooking and cutting the quicks.

Search This Blog