Bharat Bandh protests on the issues of 13-point roster and Forest Rights

Text and video by Atul Anand for TwoCircles.net

The first week of March 2019 has seen two major protests against the NDA government and the country’s apex court. In January 2019, the Supreme Court had upheld the Allahabad High Court’s verdict on adopting a 13-point roster system which treats a department/subject of a university/college as a unit for reservations in recruitment. After the Supreme Court upheld the High Court’s verdict in January, universities have advertised positions according to the 13 point roster system with considerably reduced or no seats for the marginalized groups.

In February 2019, the Supreme Court in another order rejected more than 20 lakh land claims by Adivasis and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTDF) families. The court had asked different states to evict them from their land by July 2019. Around one crore Adivasis and OTDFs are feared to be affected by this decision. Joint Adivasi Yuva Forum, Bhartiya Adivasi Manch and various other organizations had called for a protest march in New Delhi on Saturday, March 2, 2019. It was followed by a nation-wide strike on March 5, 2019, for demanding actions on the issue of Forest Rights, the 13-point roster system and different issues concerning the people of the country.

On March 7, 2019, the Union Cabinet approved the HRD Ministry’s proposal to bring an Ordinance to restore 200-point roster system. However, the Central Government had created these situations by not doing proper representations in the FRA and the 13-point roster issue.