- Cells to monitor reservation implementation yet to be set up in many ministries/departments.
- Confusion over identifying the backlog of vacancies even now.
- Delay in appointing nodal officers, far too junior and hence ineffectual.
It was a UPA promise to the electorate when it sought the vote. But what has the Congress-led government done so far to make good on that promise? Going by the letters written by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to his cabinet colleagues—and the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to all ministries and departments—there have been ‘sincere efforts’ from the top to fulfil the pre-poll clause. Even UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has stressed on the PM’s line. But there’s been few changes on the rosters, the vacancies remain.
It all started with the one-year deadline passing in May ’05. On September 9, the PM sent a note (accessed by Outlook) to his cabinet colleagues reminding them of the commitment: "As you are well aware, the national CMP has mandated the government to fill the backlog of vacancies of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in a time-bound manner. The progress reported so far by the ministries has not been commensurate with the expectations and has been below the targets." The PM urged his cabinet colleagues to fill the quotas by at least 80 per cent by December 2005. "We should, in fact, try to fill one hundred per cent SC and ST backlog vacancies, whether for direct recruitment or for promotion by December 2005, through a well coordinated target-driven action," he said.
Six months after his note, on March 13, 2006, the PM held a meeting of the SC and ST parliamentary forum. And he found that nothing had moved really. Far from the 80 per cent target set by the prime minister, the stats revealed that in both categories (SCs and STs) the government had failed to meet even half of what he had prescribed. With the MPs’ forum up in arms, the PM has now promised he’ll look into the matter personally.
In fact, the figures submitted to the parliamentary forum by Suresh Pachouri, minister of state for personnel, public grievances and training, indicate that of the 22,157 posts identified for promotion of SC candidates, only 13,753 posts have been filled. Similarly, of the 12,771 posts identified for recruitment, the government has managed to fill up just 6,051. For ST candidates, the government had 15,205 posts for recruitment but turned in a measly 6,095. When it came to promotions, the figures were even more disheartening—for the 25,809 posts identified, the ministries and departments managed only 9,950 promotions.
Little wonder then that Dalit ideologues as well as MPs have issues with the arbitrary manner in which ‘reserved’ posts are identified by the government. Most are at the lower end of the job spectrum and promotions to higher grades are deliberately blocked. The MPs also say they are not convinced that the bureaucracy is serious about addressing the issue.
Dr Udit Raj, national chairman of the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations, asks, "How can the government say it has identified the posts successfully when there is no institutional monitoring?" Raj is also critical of the promises made by the PM. "In a meeting held on August 18, 2005, the PM had made similar promises. But in seven months there seems to be no progress." Ramdas Athawale, Lok Sabha MP from Maharashtra and a member of the SC/ST Parliamentary forum, had attended the PM’s March 13 meeting, but came back disappointed. "The MPs weren’t satisfied with the figures provided...there seems to be little progress."
Raj also points to a letter written to him by Congress president and chairperson of the National Advisory Council, Sonia Gandhi, on December 17 last year. In it, Sonia had pointed out the "number of circulars" that "have been issued by the DoPT to all ministries and departments of the government of India to fill the backlog under the Special Recruitment Drive". She also refers to a letter written by the PM asking the council of ministers to "give special attention to this matter".
No such special attention has been given, say Dalit leaders. They allege that in most ministries and departments, the cells to monitor the progress of filling up the backlog have not been set up. This, they say, ensures there is little or no monitoring of the progress in meeting the targets. The situation is made worse because the liaison officers appointed for monitoring promotions of Dalits are far junior to the members of the departmental promotion committee. So they have no voice and simply "sign on the dotted line as and when directed by their superiors". Points out Suraj Bhan, chairman of the National Commission for SCs, also an invitee at the March 13 meet. "The MPs weren’t satisfied because Pachouri did not highlight what the targets were...the PM too could not come up with a satisfactory reply."
A.N Tiwari, till recently secretary, DoPT, had pursued the issue for over a year sending repeated reminders to colleagues in other ministries/departments. Similarly, several office memoranda were also issued by the DoPT. Tiwari describes his efforts as a "success" because they managed to meet nearly "100 per cent of the targets" in the direct recruitment category. It’s another thing that actual government figures do not match his claim. However, he’s quick to admit there were lapses as far as the "promotion category was concerned" because there were "inadequate SC/ST candidates for these vacancies despite relaxation of standards". Now senior DoPT officials say the recruitment drive’s ‘success’ is because of the "personal interest shown by the PM". So now you know how seriously the PM’s men are taking him.
