A betrayal of the youth

WITH every passing day, the BJP led coalition government in Tripura is showing its true colours. It is implementing all the anti-people, neoliberal policies the Modi government at the centre stands for, in a complete betrayal of the people. The BJP in its vision document for the last assembly elections had promised employment for all the households and 50,000 government jobs every year. But the last nine months have seen no new appointment in government services. Rather it has stopped the recruitment process to more than 8000 posts that the previous Left Front government had started. Now, what may be called the last nail in the coffin, the government has issued a memorandum which is almost a blanket ban on all recruitments. The memo issued by the chief secretary on December 17, 2018 on “Creation of posts and filling up of vacant posts (by direct recruitment): Prior concurrence of Finance department” says “salaries and wages constitute the largest segment of expenditure and it is absolutely necessary to exercise financial prudence and discipline while committing expenditure under these heads.” It goes on to state that Tripura has the highest level of government employment in the country in proportion to population of the state. The expenditure on salaries, pension and debt repayment constitute 80 per cent of the total expenditure leaving very little for development activities. Hence the government chooses to be extremely prudent in the matter of further recruitments. It goes on to say that, creation of posts will strictly depend on budgetary resources of the department concerned. “Hence whenever a department submits a proposal for post creation, it should be accompanied by a proposal for surrender/ abolition of posts with equivalent financial implications.” It further states that “All the departments must ensure that no filling of vacant posts (by direct recruitment) is initiated without prior concurrence of the finance department.” “Given the fact that Tripura already has highest level of government employment in the country, fresh recruitments should normally be restricted to the retirements taking place in a year…Henceforth the finance department will monitor, on monthly basis, the expenditure on salaries and wages by each department and as soon as any department is found exceeding their salaries and wages budget, immediate corresponding/ equivalent cut will be made in their Non salary budget.”

This virtual blanket ban on government recruitment is a complete betrayal of the youth of the state, termed the DYFI and TYF. The two youth organisations took out a protest march in Agartala on December 19, demanding withdrawal of this government memo. In a press conference on December 18, DYFI state secretary Amal Chakraborty said this government had, before elections, promised employment to every household; 50,000 jobs in a year and now proving its own promises a jumla, it is banning recruitments. We will expose the double standards of this government, he said.

Civic By-polls: More Farces Make a

Mockery of Democracy

IN these columns two weeks back, we had shown how in five municipal bodies the Left Front and other opposition parties were not allowed to submit nomination papers for the vacant seats of the urban bodies, by unleashing terror. Despite all these attacks, the Left Front had filed nominations in 78 of 158 vacant seats. So further attacks were mounted on the day of scrutiny and in the nights before the dates of withdrawal. A total of 25 Left Front candidates, 20 candidates of Congress were forced to withdraw their candidature. BJP forcibly occupied 58 per cent of the seats as there were no opposition candidates. The Left Front leaders led by CPI(M) Central Committee member Badal Choudhury registered protest in front of the police headquarters on December 7.  CPI(M) leaders Badal Choudhury, Jitendra Choudhury, Rama Das, Manik Dey accompanied with hundreds of CPI(M) workers assembled on the road in front of the PHQ and after more than two hours of protest, the DGP was compelled to meet them. They demanded that the LF candidates must be given security so that they can contest the elections. Later in a press conference, Left Front convener Bijan Dhar said the ruling BJP has made a farce of the by-elections. The houses of the candidates, proposers are being attacked and plundered. This has to be resisted. He appealed to the electorates to come out and vote for the LF candidates bravely. Where the LF candidates are not in the fray, he appealed the voters to vote for whichever candidate can defeat the BJP.

But this was not the end. The LF candidates are facing attacks and intimidation when they are trying to reach out to the voters. But the silver lining is they are not losing hope. Wherever there is an attack that forces to stop campaign, the next round of campaigning is starting from that place and people are responding positively.  But the state election commission has unilaterally postponed the date of polling from December 22 to December 27. No all party meeting was convened, nor were any of the registered political parties informed or consulted.  The date of counting is on 28th. So there is no space for a re-poll, if it is necessary. The Tripura Left Front committee, in a statement, has vehemently protested this step. It said it is astonishing that the state election commission showed no valid reason for taking such an unprecedented decision. The commission has violated all the democratic norms and traditions, the Left Front said.