India News | Bihar Teachers' Jobs Row: Protests Rock State Capital

Patna, Jul 1 (PTI) Hundreds of youths hit the streets in Bihar capital on Saturday against the state government's decision to allow residents of other states to compete for teachers' jobs, leading to a police crackdown.

According to SSP (Patna) Rajiv Mishra, two FIRs were lodged as the demonstrations were taken out without administrative clearance.

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"One FIR each has been lodged at Gandhi Maidan and Kotwali police stations and 20 persons have been taken into custody so far. The number may go up and further action may be taken as per the findings of the investigations," Mishra told PTI.

The protesters gathered near Gandhi Maidan and marched towards Dak Bungalow crossing, leading to traffic snarls all along the 1km route.

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A massive demonstration was staged by the youths at the Dak Bungalow crossing in the heart of the city, creating traffic snarls, even as police used force to disperse the crowd and rounded up a few.

Police personnel tried to dissuade the agitators that their action was illegal and could land them in jail.

Baton-charging began when the protesters tried to walk towards Bailey Road that leads to VIP areas like the high court, the chief minister's house and Raj Bhavan.

Protesters, who claimed to have cleared eligibility tests like CTET and BTET, alleged that police action was reflective of the government's apathy.

“Do these people not have any shame? We are educated people, holding a peaceful demonstration over our legitimate concerns. Yet they are using force and arresting us as if we were criminals,” said Puja Singh, a job aspirant who had come from Begusarai district.

Another protester rued hostility faced by Bihari aspirants applying for jobs elsewhere and accused the state government of failure to protect interests of its own people.

The Nitish Kumar cabinet had earlier this week announced that a “no domicile” policy will be adopted for recruitment of teachers, drawing flak from the opposition BJP as well as the CPI(ML) Liberation, which supports the Mahagathbandhan government from the outside.

The situation seems to have aggravated with education minister Chandra Shekhar's statement that the policy was brought in view of a dearth of talent within the state.

However, Rajib Ranjan, national general secretary and spokesman of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U), claimed that domicile policies brought in by several states have been struck down by the court of law.

He also alleged that BJP was "rattled by the success of opposition unity" on June 23 and trying to gain lost ground in Bihar by "provoking and misleading young aspirants".

Meanwhile, the BJP has announced that it will hold a “Vidhan Sabha” march on July 13, the penultimate day of the assembly's monsoon session commencing on July 10, in support of the demand for teachers' jobs aspirants.

The party's leader in the state legislature, Vijay Kumar Sinha, alleged at a press conference that education in Bihar has been ruined “in the last 30 years”, an obvious allusion to the RJD's 15 years rule till 2005 when Nitish Kumar took over.

The BJP leader, whose party shared power with Kumar till about a year ago, also took potshots at RJD supremo's “charwaha vidyalaya” scheme and alleged that it denoted the ruling party's frivolous attitude towards education.

Speaking at the same press conference, state BJP president Samrat Choudhary also said, “our Vidhan Sabha march, which will commence at Gandhi Maidan, will also be in support of other demands of teachers and job aspirants”.

“We support the demand of CTET and BTET pass candidates that they be considered for direct appointment as teachers instead of a lengthy screening process conducted by the state's public service commission,” said Choudhary.

“Also, the state government must immediately consider regularizing non-commissioned (niyojit) teachers and bring them on a par with government employees”, said the Bihar BJP president.

CPI(ML) Liberation legislative party leader Mehboob Alam also said his party "in principle" supported the agitation by job aspirants and urged the state government to withdraw the contentious provision forthwith.

"Let the state government advertise vacancies subject wise and conduct screening tests. If then the contention of the state education minister holds, they may throw open recruitment process to outsiders. But citizens of Bihar must get priority", said Alam.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)