The Bahujan community has been angry with the central government’s inaction and collusion over stripping and diluting the SC/ST/OBC reservations. After the Supreme Court ordered the eviction of tribals from forest lands on Feb 13, there have been many protest rallies across the nation. The forest-dwelling Adivasi communities have been demanding their rights over water, forests and land. The move to erase SC/ST/ OBC representation in universities is taking full force due to the 13 point roster. The Bahujan community has been organizing and facing obstacles in voicing their sentiments ever since their rights have come under the scanner. Bhim Army is again engaging at the grassroots level to pressurize the centre to keep Bahujan sentiments at the fore of their policies.
 
Chandrashekhar Azad led Bhim Army is organizing a ‘Bahujan Hunkar rally’ at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi on March 15 to express Bahujan resentment for tribal evictions and the 13 point roster. Addressing the rally, Azad will take aim at the govt’s inaction and unwillingness to address the concerns of the community.

He will demand the restoration of the 200 point roster, a stay on the eviction of tribals and release of youths arrested under NSA on April 2. Bhim army has urged all its social activists to organize, unite and make the rally a success for future generations.

Azad addressed a rally in Roorkee, Uttarakhand on Feb 23, 2019.
 

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Nandita Narain, former president of Delhi University of Teachers’ Association, explains the new reservation roster. She talks in detail about how harmful the new 13 point/department wise roster will be for the teachers. Nandita gives a picture about the history of reservation in Universities and how the current government is excluding backward castes from the learning space.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

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New Delhi: Congress President Rahul Gandhi urged Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar to restore the “200-point roster system” of reservation mechanism for faculties in universities.
 
In a letter to Javadekar dated Wednesday, he said that the adoption of the “13-point roster system” in place of the earlier system, has “severely eroded” the spirit of reservation guaranteed under the constitution of India and called for bringing an ordinance to suspend all recruitment till the matter was resolved.
 
This is arguably the first time INC has taken a stand against the 13-point roster system and has not held a press conference or a protest demonstration against it.

 
Under the new system, each department is taken as a unit for implementing recruitment and reservation policy for teachers. Under the earlier system of a 200-point roster, the entire university was taken as a unit for reservation and recruitment.
 
“Thousands of SC, ST, OBC candidates aspiring to teach in colleges/universities will be denied the opportunity. The departure from the ‘200-point roster system’ has led to widespread protests and deserves your urgent intervention,” said Gandhi.
 
Gandhi also pointed out to Javadekar recently informing Parliament that of the 158 faculty posts advertised by the Central Universities of Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Punjab since March 5, 2018, not even a single post was reserved for SCs/STs under the ’13-point’ roster system.
 
“You had recently stated in the Parliament that out of the 158 faculty posts advertised by the Central Universities of Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, and Punjab since March 5, 2018, not even a single post was reserved for SCs/STs under the 13-point roster system. By your own ministry’s admission, 43 posts would have been reserved for SC/STs under the 200 point roster system,” he wrote.
 
On January 31, thousands of protestors had gathered in New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar to demand the restoration of the 200-point roster. The Allahabad high court in 2016 had ruled that the 13-point roster system should replace the previous system.
 
The announcement of a 13-point roster by Allahabad High Court in 2016, had caused widespread protests in the country and majority in New Delhi recently in January 2019.
 
Following that, the University Grants Commission froze hiring of faculty members last year until the Supreme Court heard the matter. On January 22, the Supreme Court upheld the HC’s order, following which new rounds of protests occurred.
 
Besides the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and other opposition parties have demanded the restoration of the earlier system, contending the new system deprives SCs, STs and OBCs of reservation benefits in higher education institutions.
 
Opposing teachers explained that as opposed to the earlier system, where 99 posts were reserved for SCs, STs and OBCs and 101 for the unreserved, under the new system only the first, second, third, fifth, and sixth posts will be unreserved in a department.
 
Also, the fourth will be reserved for OBCs, the seventh for SCs, the 14th for STs and the eighth and 12th for OBCs, while the ninth, 10th and 11th will be unreserved.
 
The University Grants Commission (UGC) in March 2018 announced that a department should be considered the base unit to calculate the number of teaching posts for the reserved categories following an order by the Allahabad High Court in April 2017.
 
The matter is before the apex court with the Centre filing a petition seeking review of the top court’s verdict, dismissing a petition pleading restoration of the earlier system.
 
Inputs from IANS
 

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Image Courtesy: PTI

New Delhi: After hundreds of teachers from across the country participated in an ‘Aakrosh Rally’ organised by the Joint Forum for Academic and Social Justice (JFASJ) on January 31 to protest against the imposition of department/ subject-wise roster in place of college/ university-wise roster in educational institutions, JFASJ held a Review Meeting on February 2, 2019. It was decided that a continuous protest will be held until the demand to restore 200 Point Roster is fulfilled.
 
A course of action was suggested in the meeting which ranged from protests in front of the houses of BJP and its allies Ministers and MPs, extend support to DUTA’s call for a University strike on February 5, to make a call for University and College Bandh to ensure a massive nationwide protest and more.
 
They also decided to continuously mention and tag political leaders on different social media platforms asking them to raise a demand for a law to re-implement 200 Point Roster. They would also ask UGC whether they have given the permission to the Universities to release their new advertisements following the department-wise Roster System. “If UGC has not given the permission, how can the Universities publish their advertisement?” they asked.
 
“A nation-wide coordination should be established to strongly fight against Department-wise Roster System. The committee decided to extend its support to all the organisations who are raising the issue of Department-wise Roster. We extend our support to the Young India Adhikar March on February 7. We extend our support to AISF March on February 18. A continuous plan of action would be followed till February 13 when the last session of this government ends, to mobilize more people across the country and build a political pressure on the government to pass a law to re-implement 200 Point Roster,” they said in a statement.
 
According to the plan of action decided in the meeting, they will burn the effigy of the University Circular of March 2018, MHRD Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar and UGC Chairperson in all the Universities across the country on Feb 4.
 
On Feb 5, public talks will be organised to create awareness regarding the Roster issue in various universities located outside Delhi. On Feb 6, public talks to discuss the Status of SC. On Feb 7, they will extend their support to Young India Adhikar March from Ramlila Maidan to Parliament. On Feb 8,9 and 10, people will be mobilised for the Feb 11 University and College Bandh besides the protest march from UGC to MHRD in Delhi, against the department-wise Roster.
 
“This can be done by campaigning and holding seminars and talks on the status of SC, ST, OBCs in higher education institutions, across the country by student community in their respective universities & colleges. People from outside Delhi are requested to join the March on Feb 11 in Delhi in large numbers and who cannot join it in Delhi are requested to shut down their respective universities and colleges. Like Minded People and Organizations are requested to publish this action plan on their respective letter-heads and to circulate it,” they said in a statement.
 
A review meeting will be held on Feb 12 and Feb 13.
 

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