There is no recruitment for the government posts at the state and central government levels. Why is the CPI(M) and Left not taking up this issue in a big way? Shyamlal Panda, Raigada THE central government and most of the state governments are not filling up the vacancies in government posts. In fact there is a official ban on recruitment to these posts. According to the Seventh Pay Commission, in the central government departments there are 7.47 lakh vacancies. Lakhs more are there lying vacant at the state governments’ level. In order to downsize government employment, some of the vacant posts are filled through contract jobs or temporary personnel. The CPI(M) has been consistently demanding that the ban on recruitment in the central and state governments be removed. The 21st Congress of the Party in a resolution “For Employment or Unemployment Allowance” demanded: 1. Remove the ban on recruitment in various central and state government departments and public sector enterprises. 2. Stop the abolition of vacant posts and fill all vacancies within a prescribed time frame, and stop contractorising perennial posts. The Party has been raising this demand inside the legislatures and also in the campaigns and movements against unemployment. The different approach of the CPI(M) and the Left can be seen in how the newly elected LDF government in Kerala has acted. The first cabinet meeting held after the swearing in of the ministry headed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan decided to lift the ban on filling vacant posts in government departments. It was decided that all departments have to report the vacancies to the Public Service Commission within ten days after a post falls vacant. Unfortunately, state governments run by the bourgeois parties do not follow this approach. We have to develop a powerful movement to demand that the ban on recruitment be lifted and all vacant posts in government be filled up.