VILLUPURAM: The Other Backward Classes should launch a nationwide agitation to get their rightful share of Central Government jobs, Pattali Makkal Katchi founder S. Ramadoss said on Thursday.
He planned to meet the OBC leaders in New Delhi to chalk out the programme, he told a press conference at Thailapuram.
The forward communities that accounted for 10 per cent of the population had cornered 70 per cent of the jobs, whereas, the OBCs and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, who constituted 90 per cent of the population, could get only 29.3 per cent of jobs.
The statistics provided by K. Parasaran, former Attorney General and senior counsel, he said, was a revelation. Of the 30, 23, 874 Central Government jobs available, the lion’s share of 22,56,580 in all four categories had gone to the forward communities.
Even 15 years after the Mandal Commission had recommended 27 per cent reservation for the OBCs, the goal was yet to be achieved. Such imbalances could be set right only through a national movement, he said.
Cement price
For controlling the price of cement, Dr. Ramadoss called for yearlong import and distribution through fair price shops. Such a move, he said, would break the syndicate of manufacturers and provide a sustained livelihood to lakhs of construction workers.
He urged the State Government to pass legislation for land acquisition for special economic zones and private industrial ventures. It should incorporate the Centre’s resettlement policy and the Supreme Court guidelines and address the issues of fair compensation and jobs and social security to land owners.
Dr. Ramadoss called for a rule banning political leaders and their family members from contesting cooperative elections, arguing that the cooperative philosophy that got distorted by political interference should be revived.
As for the police attack on Presidency College students, he said that since the youths were quite sensitive, pragmatic counselling would be needed to assuage their ruffled feelings and get them back to classes.
As for the additional security sought by the former Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, in the wake of the intrusion of a stranger into her residence, Dr. Ramadoss said that giving adequate protection to leaders was the right move. But her allegation that it was part of a murder plot hatched by someone was a figment of imagination.
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