CPI (ML) Call for All-India Protest Against Anti-Reservation Measures
THE Supreme Court has recently upheld an Allahabad High Court verdict mandating the department rather than the college/university to be the base unit for calculating the number of teaching posts to be reserved for SC/ST/OBC candidates. This system (known as the 13-point roster system rather than the 200-point roster system) is guaranteed to undermine reservations in faculty positions in higher education institutions.
The 200-point roster which takes the entire college/University as a base unit means that a deficit in reservations in one department is compensated by other departments. The 13-point roster means that at least one appointment from each reserved category will be made only when a minimum of 14 appointments are made in a department. This means that the actually realised percentage of reserved SC/ST/OBC faculty posts advertised is far short of the constitutionally mandated 49.5%. In fact, in small departments with less than 14 faculty positions, not a single teacher from a reserved category may ever be appointed! As it is, there is huge backlog in filling reserved faculty posts. The result is that higher education becomes a hostile space for students from deprived and oppressed backgrounds.
Ever since the Allahabad HC verdict, teachers from all over India have demanded that the MHRD of the Modi government enact a law mandating the 200-point roster. The Modi government avoided doing so. With the Supreme Court verdict, it has now become all the more urgent for an ordinance to be passed pending a law to protect the 200-point roster.
As CPI(ML) has pointed out, the 10% quota introduced by the Modi government for general category EWS applicants also undermines the Constitution which recognises only social and educational backwardness as a basis for reservations.
CPI(ML) calls for all-India protests against this anti-reservation measure and against all moves to undermine Constitution and kill SC/ST/OBC reservations, including the 13-point roster and the 10% EWS quota.
Protests across the country opposing 13-point roster:
Responding to the party’s call for India protests, protests were organized in various parts of the country. In Delhi a joint protest was held outside the MHRD demanding a Bill/ Ordinance to restore the 200-point reservation roster on the basis of college/university as a unit instead of taking the department as a unit. The speakers at the protest that included university students and teachers shared how the 13 point roster would render the reservation for SC-ST-OBC ineffective. Speaking at the protest- AISA national president Com. Sucheta De said that the new department-wise roster is in line with the anti-Dalit and anti-reservation stance of the government. It will effectively end the opportunities for teachers from SC/ST/ OBC communities in universities. Other speakers at the protest also expressed anguish over the increasing attempts to attack the reservations for the SC, ST and the OBCs and the government’s silence on it.
In Udaipur, a united protest was called by AISA, Aarakashan Bachaao Sangharsh Samiti and SC-ST Students Union. The protest started near the Ambedkar Statue at the Court Chowraha. Addressing the protestors, Com. Saurabh Naruka said that recently the government passed amendment to ensure reservation for the upper caste on the basis of economic criteria, however the same government is silent on the attack on the reservation for the Dalit-Adivasis and other backward classes through the 13 point roster system. This is in the series of attacks against the backward castes and adivasis. Social activist P.R. Salvi said that this Manuvadi attack on reservations is happening at a time when the existing backlog of reservation seats is yet to be filled. It is not surprising that hours and days after the ruling, universities that had refused to advertise their vacant seats, suddenly issued advertisements with zero or near zero reserved seats. CPI (ML) leader Prof. Sudha Chaudhary along with others also met the district collector and submitted a memorandum addressed to the President with the following demands:
- 200 point roster should be immediately restored
- Revoke the 13 point roster for appointments in universities
- Stop the systematic attacks on the SC-ST-OBC reservations
- Take the necessary steps to ensure that backlog of reserved seats is immediately filled in all universities and other government departments.
- In light of the rising unemployment among the educated youth, ensure immediate fulfillment of near 25 lakh vacant posts in government jobs, ensuring that constitutionally mandated reservation is followed during recruitment.
