[Marxistindia] Resolution adopted at the 24th Congress of CPI(M)

[news from the cpi(m)]

Resolution

 

Extend Reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs to the Private Sector

 

The 24th Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) reiterates that
the marginalised sections of society - Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled
Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) - continue to face social
discrimination and exclusion. Economic exclusion and discrimination are at
the core of the caste system, and an important outcome of social
organisation based on castes. Restrictions and exclusion are faced by
persons belonging to these castes in various economic domains including in
ownership of land and property and in the ability to enter into various
occupations. Exclusion in access to various services, including education,
contributes to their economic exclusion in a major way.


Reservations in jobs has emerged as the most important policy instrument
against widespread economic exclusion of, and discrimination against these
castes and tribes. Articles 15(4), 16(4), 46 and 335 of the Constitution
provide the basis for reservations of jobs for SCs, STs and OBCs. However,
these provisions have been used for reservations only in government jobs.


Historically, reservations even in government jobs have been marred by poor
implementation. A large number of reserved posts remain vacant. In 2023,
over 10 lakh central government posts were vacant. A vast majority of these
are reserved posts. A large number of reserved posts also remain vacant in
public sector enterprises and in state government posts.


Under the neoliberal economic regime, there has been a sharp contraction of
public sector employment that is covered by reservation policies.

 

In the 1990s, about 2 crore persons were employed in all government jobs
(including central government, state government, quasi government and local
bodies). By 2012, this had fallen to 1.7 crores. In other words, there was a
reduction of about 30 lakh government jobs during that period. The fall has
been even more steep since the Modi government came to power.


However, the Modi government has stopped publication of comprehensive data
on government employment. But a steep fall in employment is seen in
different types of government employment. Total employment in public sector
banks has fallen from over 10 lakh in the mid-1990s to just 7.5 lakh in
2024. The total number of employees in Central Public Sector Enterprises has
fallen by over 4.5 lakh - a fall of 35 per cent - since 2014. Since 2014,
the number of employees has fallen by about 80,000 in Railways and by about
40,000 in Department of Posts, and by about 90,000 in public sector banks.


The loss of jobs has been highest in Group C and Group D where the degree of
contractualisation has been the greatest. Of all the central government jobs
lost between 2014-15 and 2022-23, 86 per cent were of Group C and Group D
employees.


Outsourcing of work, sourcing of staff through private contractors and
companies, and deployment of contractual staff has become rampant in public
institutions.

 

Privatisation of education has meant that there has been no increase in
employment of teachers in government educational institutions. As a result,
the proportion of teachers from these marginalised sections has fallen
sharply. In 2023-24, only 7.7 per cent of school teachers were from STs and
12.6 per cent belong to SCs. The record of private schools in employing
SC/ST teachers has been very poor. Only 13 per cent of teachers in private
schools were SC/ST.


Reservation policies are not extended to many areas where employment is
created using public money. This includes scheme workers, government-aided
private educational institutions, and employees recruited through
contractors and private agencies. In the 2024 budget the central government
proposed a set of employment-linked schemes which gives public money to
corporates, including 500 big companies for various schemes of employment
for 20 lakh interns. About Rs 1.73 lakh crore of public money is estimated
to be spent on this scheme, but there is no reservation for SCs, STs or OBCs
in this scheme.


Privatisation and contractualisation are at the core of neoliberal policies.
These have resulted in informalisation of employment and have eroded the
reach of reservations as a tool for affirmative action against caste-based
exclusion and discrimination. The 24th Congress of the CPI(M) demands that
the reservation policy be extended to the entire organised private sector,
and all registered institutions including private companies be required to
implement reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs.

 

***

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://cpim.org/pipermail/marxistindia_cpim.org/attachments/20250405/b7462bc5/attachment.html>