By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
Patna: All is not well in Bihar contrary to the claims of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. A visit to R-Block area – the state capital’s own Jantar Mantar – will give you an ample proof of dissatisfaction and disappointment prevailing among a large section of the populace in the state.
Several thousand people – from school teachers to law graduates to street vendors – are holding protests here for their demand.
Bihar State Primary Teachers’ Association (BSPTA) and Bihar Secondary Teachers’ Association (BSTA) are jointly holding sit-in demanding pay to newly appointed teachers at par with regular government teachers.
Kedar Nath Pandey, Member of Bihar Legislative Council and General Secretary, Bihar Secondary Teachers’ Association (BSTA) refutes the state government claim that Bihar is shining, not at least on education front.
“Government is giving fix pay to 2.5 lakh teachers from village level to high schools. They are being given Rs six to nine thousand in this time of high inflation. While at the same time, employees of health department with equal educational qualification are getting Rs 15000. The Constitution says government should ensure quality education to children. Who will give quality education in Rs 8 thousand in this time?” Pandey asks talking to TwoCircles.net.
Has quality of education improved in the Nitish regime? “The government has done nothing to improve quality of education. Yes, students have come in more numbers to schools thanks to the bicycle and uniform schemes but quality has not improved,” he adds.
On Nitish claim that Bihar is shining and developing, he said: “I do not agree with it. Bihar is not shining. It is where it was 5 years ago except some roads have been built. There is no improvement on education front.”
With the same demand of equal pay Pankaj Kumar, president, Bihar State Newly Appointed Teachers’ Association is leading a protest. “The government is giving us just Rs 6000 while regular teachers of same educational qualification are being paid up to 30000. This is downed our morale. We are being pushed to starvation. How will we provide education in such situation?” asks Kumar.
He further says: “The Nitish government has criminally pushed education backward. It is giving step motherly treatment to teachers. How will Bihar progress when teachers are struggling to meet both ends?”
Not only teachers have come to streets, people from other walks of life have also come out with their demands. The newly appointed law graduates in rural courts are demanding hike in pay and regularization of job.
Leading a group of such law graduates, Radhakant Bhandari, president, Bihar Rajya Nayayemitra Sangh, is sitting on hunger strike.
“Law graduates and rural court secretaries are being paid just Rs 2500. We demand it be increased to at least Rs 10000. We also demand our services be regularized,” says Bhandari talking to TCN.
A bigger group of such law graduates is being led by Pradeep Kumar Singh, General Secretary, Bihar Rajya Gram Kachahri Nayayemitra & Secretaries Association. Apart from salary increase he demands change in mode of payment. “Mode of payment should be changed. The pay should be credited to our personal accounts. Our job should be regularized,” says Singh adding that for one year they have been holding peaceful march and protests. But the state government has turned just deaf ear to their demands. There are 17000 law graduates attached to the association, he claims.
How do you assess the performance of Nitish Kumar government? “Our CM says Bihar is changing and it is shining. It is completely false. Shining has come only to the chief minister, not to the people of Bihar,” says an angry Singh.
On the other hand, a group of teaching and nonteaching staff of a college are sitting on dharna for last four years demanding recognition of the college as a government college.
Jai Prakash Singh, president, Teaching and Nonteaching Employees Association of Dwarka Nath College in Masaurhi, Patna, says the DN College was in the list of 40 colleges that were taken over by the government in 1986-87 but this college was left out.
“We are sitting on dharna since 8th August 2006 for the demand. We put the case before CM Nitish in his janta darbar. He admitted injustice has been done to us but he did nothing,” Singh says.
These protests by teacher fraternity are coincided with the indefinite strike of teaching and nonteaching staff of colleges and universities in the state since July 1. This has adverse impact on the career of education.
Demanding immediate end of the deadlock, All India Students Federation activists were also sitting on a dharna on R-Block.
“Since July 1, staffs of universities and colleges are on strike. This is hampering the career of the students. They have not got admission. Some results have not been announced, they are not getting migration,” says Vishwajeet of AISF. They are sitting on hunger strike demanding state government to do needful to save the future of the students.
Among other protestors are Patna street vendors. They have been uprooted thanks to several flyovers under construction in the city. They demand they be rehabilitated.
“We want law to safeguard our interests and we also demand implementation of national policy for street vendors. We have been uprooted. We want shops under these flyovers,” they say.
[Photos and videos by Mudassir Rizwan, TwoCircles.net]