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WE THE STATERegion8 BHOPAL March 11 to March 17, 2013

Chhattisgarh: Why Raman Singh should take the OBC stir seriouslyRAIPUR

This could be an early warning signal for Chhat-

tisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh in an elec-

tion year. The Other Backward Classes in the

state are dissatisfied with the BJP government

and they have made it evident by a massive

show of strength on the streets. The OBCs form

a big chunk of votes in the state and if they

form into a voting block, it could spell trouble

for the chief minister seeking his third term inoffice.

A couple of days ago, 50,000 members of the

OBCs staged a 100 km march from the nonde-

script Charama to the state capital, Raipur. The

ostensible reason for the show of strength was

their dissatisfaction with the reservation policy

of the state government. However, the real mes-

sage they wanted to convey was not a part of the

27-point charter of demands. It was: We are not

happy. Give us a larger and effective share of

power.

What should worry Raman Singh is that a sig-

nificant number of par ticipants in the rally had

voted for the BJP in the last assembly elections.

Though both the main parties in the stateCon-

gress being the othershare the OBC votes

equally, the BJP has reasons to worry more

since it is the party in power. The OBCs do not

appear to be ready to be content with a mere in-

crease in the number of tickets in the coming

election. They want a share in the real power

that is confined to the chief minister himself

and a handful of ministers belonging dominant

castes.

At the Indoor Stadium in Raipur where the

first OBC Adhikar Mahasabha was held on 4

March, the protesters made the announcement

of their grievances in a grand way. The first re-

sponse of the government was to dispatch a

group of OBC ministers to pacify the agitators

on the way to Raipur. The ministers did not have

much or anything new to offer and they failed to

stop the ral ly midway.

With the assembly in session, the Congress

leaders lost no time in declaring their support to

the main demand of the OBCs toincrease their quota of reserva-

tion to 27 per cent in educational

institutions and government

jobs. The chief minister was

quick to invite the leaders of the

OBCs to his residence for talks.

This also failed and the agitators

ended up declaring their inten-

tions to intensify the movement

in the coming weeks.

The government finds itself

embroiled deeper in the contro-

versy that is largely its own creation. It all star t-

ed towards the end of 2 010 when a cabinet sub-

committee headed by the Home Minister Nanki-

ram Kanwara tribalrecommended alter-

ation in the quota system in reservations in the

state. The demographic picture had changed

drastically after the new state of Chhattisgarh

was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000. The

review had become necessary also because of

the de-limitation of the political constituencies

after the 2001 census.

Though Madhya Pradesh retained its number

one position as the state with the highest num-

ber of STs in the country after the census, the

density of the tribes in the carved out state of

Chhattisgarh went up significantly. As against

the 20.3 per cent of the total population in MP,

the new state counted 31.8 percent as tribals.

The percentage of the SCs in the total popula-

tion, however, went down in Chhattisgarh (11.6

percent) as against the figure of 15.2 p ercent in

Madhya Pradesh.

This fuelled demands by various tribal groups

in Chhattisgarh for a hike inthe reservation quota that had

been inherited from the old

state. The cabinet sub-commit-

tee was formed with this as the

backdrop. And the recommen-

dations only increased the list

of the aggrieved.

The Chhattisgarh govern-

ment on 7 December 2011 decid-

ed to revise the pattern of

reservation in government jobs

and educational institutions.

The quota for the STs was raised from 20 to 32

percent and that for the SCs was brought down

from 16 to 12 percent. The OBC quota was left

untouched at 14 percent.

This gave reason to SCs to come to the street

first. It was equally resented by the OBCs too

who, like in most other parts of the country, are

generally believed to make up almost 50 percent

of the states population. Though it is early to

predict the political fallout of this movement,

the BJP being the ruling party is at disadvan-

tage. As for the credentials as a champion of

their cause the Congress has history on its side

thanks to Arjun Singh.

Earlier, as a part of the undivided Madhya

Pradesh, the OBCs in the state were first in the

country to get the recognition as an organised

group in the society. The Backward Classes

Commission, the first of its kind in the country,

was established in June 1980 by Arjun Singh im-

mediately after he took over as the chief minis-

ter for the first time. At that time it was largely

seen as yet another shrewd move by the wily

Thakur to undermine the influence of the Shuk-la brothersShyama Charan and Vidya Cha-

ranin the area. The commission remembered

generally as Mahajan Commission visited vari-

ous parts of the state and prepared a list of

castes to be included under the list of OBCs. Lat-

er, in 1993 a five-member Madhya Pradesh Com-

mission for Backward Classes replaced Maha-

jan commission which was not a statutory body.

The state government, while revising the per-

centage in December 2011, took quotas up to 58

percent and left OBCs displeased. The govern-

ments decision, which provided for 58 percent

reservation in educational institutions and gov-

ernment jobs, was duly challenged in the Chhat-

tisgarh High Court citing the Supreme Court or-

der that restricts total reservation to 50 percent.

The court vacated its stay on the implementa-

tion of this policy in July 2012. It, however, ruled

that the appointments made by the government

on the basis of the new policy, would be subject

to the courts final verdict.

And thus hangs the sword of uncertainty over

a policy that, till its fate is decided by the court,

is sure to fuel the politics of de mands and un-

rest in the state.

Jhabua:

Everyda

y it's

Women

's DayT

he district administration of

Jhabua, a predominantly tribal

area 350 km west of Bhopal, is an all-

woman bastion well almost. With

Jaishri Kiyawat as collector and Krish-

naveni Desavatu as superintendent of

police, it is the only district in MP

where both civic and police administra-

tion are run by women.

But that's not where the story ends. Be-

sides the collector and SP, there are six

other heads of departments - all women.

The Chief Medical and Health Officer

(CMHO) is Dr Rajni Dabar, assistant

commissioner (tribal welfare) is Mohini

Shrivastava, district woman and child

development officer is Neelu Bhatt, as-

sistant director, public relations is Anu-

radha Garwal, assistant director, back-

ward classes welfare is Pinky Damor

and assistant director, town and coun-

try planning is Kavita Nagar.

Not so long ago, the districts of Datia

and Dewas were unofficially earmarked

for posting lady IAS officers as collec-

tors. The geographical spread of Datia

being small, both Datia and Dewas con-

sidered administratively 'largely peace-

ful' -- were reasons given for posting lady

officers here through the 1970s till 90s.

But Jhabua is different and no walk-in-

the-park. The district has a crime prob-

lem and ranks comparatively lower on

the development indices as well.

"Women usually stayed in the back-

ground and most of them are in ghung-

hat. But after one and half years here, I

see them coming out," says Kiyawat.

Learning the local language helped

her draw women into conversations and

thereby understands their issues, she

says. Kiyawat is the first woman to be

posted as collector in Jhabua.

For Krishnaveni Desavatu, being a

woman and SP is no different. "I don't

look at myself differently while being a

woman and a police officer. We are

trained to be cops although as women

we are able to probably appreciate cer-

tain aspects in a victim more than what

men would," she said.

"In terms of policing, Jhabua is one of

the toughest districts in the state. The

liquor mafia is very active and Krish-

naveni has dealt with that issue and

general crime very effectively," says

Anuradha Shankar, IG, Indore range.

Women's forays in Jhabua is not re-

stricted to the administration only -- dis-

trict panchayat president Kalawati

Bhuria and BJP district chief Nirmala

Bhuria are also women.

How well are the ladies working to-

gether? Jhabua recently bagged a na-

tional award for best electoral

practices - it added 1.48 lakh voters.

"That's an example of coordination,"

says Kiyawat.