KPSC reservation: Is it enough to fix errors?
The government has finally admitted to its errors and has decided to continue with the arrangement of SC/ST/OBCs to avail seats under general category on merit basis in KPSC exams.
This is not a mistake that happened by oversight or something. If this order was implemented without any discussion or publicity, this would have caused much injustice to the KPSC aspirants under those categories.
Reservation is given to those students who have been unable to compete with students from more favourable background capable of acing education and related sectors. Turning this topsy-turvy, a conspiracy was being hatched to give away the seats reserved for lower class and caste students to general ones. The commission was almost on the threshold of taking this decision. If this was done, reservation would have been a mockery of things that it was intended to fix.
If talented and hardworking Dalits were to be selected in their own category, what’s the point of their striving harder to prove their merit? The hardworking ones would get selected even if they don’t use the reservation provision. Don’t the higher authorities know this fact? What’s even more shocking is that this issue came up during the rule of a secular party and its coalition partner that claim to ensure social justice for all. How could this happen with Siddaramaiah, Kumaraswamy and Parameshwar were at the helm of affairs?
Though the error has been fixed, the government needs to introspect on this issue for sure. This is not an accident or oversight for sure. There are many forces that are working to ensure this circular was drawn up and implemented, if possible. Those forces want reservation to fail and the upper caste lobby to win. So a circular was sent out without bringing it to the notice of the CM, on the advice of AG executed by Chief Secretary.
If this was an error, why have those who were responsible for this have not been punished? An inquiry and penalization has to be initiated to ensure such discrepancies do not occur in the due time. But the government does not seem interested in doing that.
Unfortunately, the Dalits had to take to streets for the order to be withdrawn. The leaders of coalition had to raise their voice in solidarity to ensure social justice was upheld. Finally the government admitted its mistake. But on the other hand, the government is protecting the officer who make a mistake like one would protect an innocent child.
Such a mistake had happened during Siddaramaiah’s time as well. Karnataka didn’t support the ban on Gau Rakshaks when the Supreme Court sought the opinion of states. Our state had written a rather neutral answer that could work in the favour of keeping Gau Rakshaks without being banned.
But later it was revealed that the then CM Siddaramaiah didn’t know about this particular development. He was given wrong information about this response. The same ‘higher authorities’ had acted on this one as well. Today, the home minister of state may be a secular man. But there could be Sangh Parivar agents in police departments and one would be forced to go by the data and opinion they provide to bolster the claims.
The past government had trusted the information provided by the police department to celebrate Tipu Jayanti and shared the same with the media. This had become a major cause of embarrassment for the then home minister Parameshwar. Today, the country seems to be ruled by ‘legislative’ pillar. But in reality, this is not the case. Looks like the executive pillar is calling the shots at the end of the day.
Less knowledge about the system, innocence about what is appropriate and lack of experience has led to people in offices being misled. If an executive wing is implementing its agenda, the completion of administration for the assigned five years term of a CM would be a miracle.
Nobody trusts the government to complete its term now since people’s representatives would take years to even understand the administration and their departments. This can happen only with the help of officers. It’s important to remember officers didn’t cooperate too well with Siddaramaiah either during the beginning of his term when he tried implementing the flagship schemes.
All officers have their own agenda too, though they are bound to serve the people. They want particular parties to assume power. Hence they ensure some important and ambitious schemes to fail at implementation to bring bad repute to the government. This way they ensure the public opinion is never in favour of the ruling dispensation that they are not fond of.
Though ministers are elected by people, they sometimes fear these officers who have been sitting in vantage positions since long and that they can cost the ministers their public opinion. As soon as a secular government comes to power, they have to ensure they have a set of officers who are aware of facts and can help the government tread its chosen path. Only then the government would win people’s confidence. Else the government would carry the blame of something that it wasn’t responsible for. Now, such a culprit needs to be identified and sent away for betterment of the state.
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Jarkiholi is my colleague, don’t see us as enemies: DK Shivakumar
Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has stated that Satish Jarkiholi and he are colleagues and not enemies.
Speaking to presspersons here, Shivakumar questioned the media for portraying tension between the two leaders. “It is true that Satish Jarkiholi and I met at a wedding last night. We discussed the state and the party. Satish Jarkiholi and I are colleagues. Why do you see us as enemies?” he asked.
Shivakumar was responding to queries near the new Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) office on Thursday.
When asked about Jarkiholi’s visit, he said, “We attend cabinet meetings in the afternoon, we meet for dinner, we meet for breakfast in the morning; these interactions are normal. In politics, friendship, relationships, and closeness always exist.”
He added, “Now, M.B. Patil and I spoke for about an hour about how to attract investors to the state, how Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are competing with us. A global conference will be held in Telangana soon, and we discussed how Karnataka should compete at the global level. It is natural to discuss the state’s progress this way.”
Speaking about the inauguration of the new KKRDB office, he said, “Businessmen in Karnataka should be respected. Their work should be facilitated, officers’ visits should be convenient, and files should be cleared quickly. The state government has built a new KKRDB office under the leadership of M.B. Patil. They had been in a rented building for so long; now they have their own office. It is close to Vidhana Soudha, bus and railway stations.”
When mediapersons asked about, leader of opposition, R. Ashoka’s comments regarding the Upalokayukta report that allegedly shows 63% corruption in the state, Shivakumar retorted, stating that, “It’s a pity that R. Ashoka doesn’t know the time period the report covers. Let him first read the report. Let him raise the issue in the session, and we will answer there.”
On whether a date has been fixed for the all-party delegation’s visit to Delhi, he said, “We still need to discuss it. The Union Minister said he is busy with the Parliament session, so we postponed the meeting scheduled for December 8. He had written a letter about this. The Prime Minister has a meeting with Prahlad Joshi. Nirmala Sitharaman has to introduce a bill that day. Somanna also said he will not be able to attend. A date will be fixed that is convenient for all of us.”
