New Delhi: J. R. Antwal, chairman of the Federation of the All-India SCs and STs Employees, Posts and Telegraphs Dept., New Delhi, has demanded that service organisation of SCs and STs in different departments, nationalised banks, public undertakings etc. should be recognised by the Govt. and facilities should be given to fight on behalf of their members.
In a circular to members of his organisation. Antwal has offered a five-point plan to meet the rising discontent among the Dalit employees.
- Backlog in various cadres services should be filled up within a stipulated period of two years.
- At the time of initial recruitment itself, it should be ensured that reservations are fulfilled in every category of posts.
- All appointments, training, promotions should be made simultaneously. The existing system is harmful to the interests of the Dalits as they are made embolic junior to non-Dalit employees and they are appointed and promoted much later Because of this, they lose seniority and financial benefits. Besides future promotions are also disturbed. This is the main reason why many posts are de-reserved Therefore, it calls for a wholesale review of the entire mode of recruitment. Not only reservations in recruitment should be maintained but appointments and promotions should also be made accordingly.
- Responsibility should be fixed upon the appointing authorities to see that the reserved vacancies are filled up. To ensure this in every Ministry and department there should be a special SC & ST cell.
Antwal’s demands deserve serious consideration even by those Dalits outside the P&T. They should start agitation on this five-point plan.
Antwal in a four-page circular says that as days pass Dalits are facing countless cases of discrimination at the hands of the Hindus and because of this the Dalits have developed a strong hatred for Hinduism. It is because of this hatred, dalits in different parts are going over to Islam. He calls upon the Dalits to develop self-respect and never to stomach the insults of the Hindus. “A day’s respectful life is better than a hundred years’ life in subjugation and slavery. The SCs a d STs must learn the art of dying to live a respectful life. They are not sheeps and goats to be killed and roasted alive in their own hutments”. he says.
Meanwhile, all over India SC and ST organisations are realising the need to take to trade union activity. In Ahmedabad, the Dalit Panthers have succeeded in mobilising the mill workers and the success of the mill strike called by them during the Gujarat caste war has made the Panthers to launch into the trade union field. In the Reserve Bank, Railways and nationalised banks also the dalits are demanding trade union rights. The Labor Ministry has received a spate of demands to this effect. The High power committee needed by Dr. Gopal Singh and the SC and ST Commission have also received similar representation. In Bangalore, the Karnataka Dalit Action Committee has already decided to enter the trade union field in Madras, the different dalit employees unions are making such a preparation. The chief reason for the dalits to establish their own trade union is because existing trade unions have not bothered to look into the grievances of the dalits. In many cases the leadership of the recognised unions has joined hands with the management.
