[ad_1]
The death of BJP leader Vijay Kumar Singh has overshadowed protests in Patna sparked by the Nitish Kumar government’s teacher recruitment policy. Even as the protests unfolded in a fraught political context, the protests drew attention to a larger and long-standing issue of inadequate job creation in the country.
They invoked the decision after the Nishani Council of Ministers decided to retract a December 2020 announcement that made residency a mandatory condition for teacher appointments. That is, residency provisions have been abolished in order to expand the pool of candidates, and to attract better and specialized teachers. Of course, the reason could also be political—the new policy is in line, arguably, with Nitish Kumar’s fervent ambitions and pursuit of a national image in the run-up to 2024. Whatever the reason, and despite the fears it seems to have stoked among job seekers in Bihar, the government’s easing of the residency policy is welcome in a country with increasing rates of internal migration.
With Bihar residents coming out in droves to study and work in other states, it is also an acknowledgment that the state, in turn, must show a big heart and keep its doors open.
Not surprisingly, the BJP, as the main opposition party, fishes avidly in turbulent waters. A call for the resignation of Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, following the new charge sheet filed by the CBI against him in the alleged land-for-jobs scam, has been added to the list of protesters, as it sits somewhat awkwardly beside a demand for the regulation of appointed teachers by the Panchayati Raj institutions and bodies. urban local.
Arguably, the BJP, which until recently was part of the ruling alliance with Nitish’s JD(U), has ambitions to win the state on its own, was looking for a reason to mobilize and mobilize. For the Nenet government, however, the problem runs deeper than aggressive opposition. The fact is that although Bihar ranks first among the states with the highest growth rates – according to the Economic Survey, in 2021-22, it recorded a growth rate of 10.98 per cent – it had an unemployment rate of 6.5 per cent, higher than the unemployment rate . The nationwide figure was 4.4 per cent, and the youth unemployment rate was more severe at 20.1 per cent compared to 12.4 per cent nationwide.
These figures tell the story of why the recruitment of government teachers has repeatedly become the site of scandals — in economies that do not offer abundant or sufficient employment for their youth, they often become the epicenter of wrongdoing and deception, as in Bihar now or West Bengal earlier.
The onus is on the Niche government to manage the rising aspirations and expectations in the state. Having presided over Bihar’s transformation from the days when law and order were its most pressing problems, dwarfing all others, the challenge for Nitish is to take the next step, expanding his politics and political repertoire. He has very little time to lose.
[ad_2]
