Ending all speculations, Hemant Soren Government today passed the Jharkhand Domicile Policy Bill 1932 and OBC Reservation bill amidst demands of the oppositions to insert amendments.
With the amendment of the Jharkhand Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services Act, 2001, it became the first state to have 77% reservation, far beyond the 50% cap. The reservation for OBCs whereas will be now 27%, that of SCs and STs will be 12% and 28%.
It also passed the much-awaited Jharkhand Definition of Local Persons and for Extending the Consequential Social, Cultural and Other Benefits to such Local Persons Bill, 2022 through which the local inhabitants will be demarcated.
As the special assembly session started, Hemant Soren introduced both the bills and said that the purpose of the bill is to give financial, cultural and educational benefit to the Adivasis who have been deprived for long.
He also added that Adivasis suffered mostly due to the influence of outsiders- so the demands of demarcating the local inhabitants came up. Soren also accused the previous governments of reducing the reservation of OBCs to 14% from 27%. “We will just restore it,” the CM says.
The CM also denied the amendment floated by BJP MLA Ramchandra Chandravanshi and said, “We Adivasis are no more stupid.” Both the OBC reservation bill and the 1932 domicile policy was passed by the voice vote.
Chandravanshi however said that they are not against the bill but it was brought in haste. He asked the government to send it to the select committee to which Soren denied.
An independent MLA Amit Yadav who was earlier with BJP said that the people unable to produce their land documents after being certified by the local authority as per the provisions of the bill must be further examined to avoid the ‘Bangladeshi infiltrators’. He also asked Soren government to add the provision of investigating the genealogy of the people before giving them local inhabitant status.
Dr. Lambodar Mahato, an MLA of All Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU) pressed a pertinent question and said that the ‘last land survey’ should be the cut off as there are places where the last survey had been conducted far after 1932.
In response to that Soren said, the government is working on this aspect so that no injustice is done to anybody.
If the acts now get the assent of the Governor and is placed under the ninth schedule to avoid the judicial scrutiny, the local inhabitants of the state will be demarcated by 1932 land survey reports.
While speaking to Outlook, Mustaq Alam, the Ranchi District President of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) said, "We have been trying to pass these reservation bills and domicile policy for long. And today in this assembly session we have done it. Now, whether the Governor who is agent of the central government will sign it depends on their mentality and intention."
Noting that they would take the movement to the streets if the Governor doesn't give assent, Alam added, "If he doesn't sign, we will hit the streets and make sure that the bills get sanctions."
