The Bihar caste survey and employment generation are emerging as the ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal (United)-led Mahagathbandhan alliance’s principal poll pitches as the countdown to this year’s general election begins. With the INDIA bloc also taking cue and pitching for a nationwide caste survey on the lines of the exercise in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav are now putting focus on creating jobs in every department.
A few months ago, 70,000 recruitments were made by Bihar Police. The State government has already announced that it would recruit about 1,40,000 people in the Health department in the days to come. In between, the focus has been on the Education department with two events in quick succession where job letters were distributed to over two lakh newly recruited teachers.
‘Over 3.6 lakh jobs’
After the success of the first phase of recruitment (November 2) in which 1,20,000 teachers got jobs, the Bihar Cabinet on December 26 approved State government employee status for four lakh contractual teachers. On Saturday, the State government handed over job letters to another 96,823 teachers at a function at Gandhi Maidan in Patna, bringing the total to 216,823 posts in just 70-odd days.
In Patna, 26,925 teachers from 16 districts were given job letters at an event attended by both the CM and Deputy CM while the rest were given by District Magistrates in their respective districts.
“Soon, the employed teachers will be made government teachers; they just need to clear an exam. Our government is busy in creating a large number of jobs. Until now, now more than 3.60 lakh jobs have been given to the youth. Soon, we will reach 5 lakh jobs. We will provide more than 10 lakh government jobs,” Mr. Kumar said in his speech, alluding to the figure promised by Mr. Yadav during the 2020 Assembly election in which the RJD emerged as the single-largest party before going on to form a government later with the JD(U) in August 2022.
The CM stressed that 51% of the total appointments made are female teachers, highlighting the State government’s focus on women empowerment. “Of the over 2 lakh newly recruited teachers, 85% are from Bihar, while the remaining are from Rajasthan, Haryana, West Bengal, Kerala, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Odisha and Chandigarh. People hailing from Bihar also get appointments in other States,” he said.
In his speech, the Deputy CM asked governments of other States to learn from Mr. Kumar. “Within 70 days, more than 2 lakh jobs have been given by a single department. The Chief Minister made an announcement at Gandhi Maidan last year on August 15 that he will provide 10 lakh government jobs and steps in that direction have gone a long way. We are distributing pens and some people are busy distributing swords,” he said.
In the second phase, recruitment was done for 1.22 lakh primary, secondary and higher secondary teachers’ posts, in which 96,823 candidates were successful. Similarly, of the 1.2 lakh appointments made by the Bihar Public Service Commission, the teachers were recruited for primary and secondary schools.
Apart from this, 2,727 candidates who were successful in the first phase supplementary exam were also given appointment letters at Gandhi Maidan.
Hopes and dreams
Newly recruited teachers expressed happiness at getting the appointment letters. “It is a big achievement for us and the credit must be given to this government. I’ll try my utmost to teach the students well,” said Palak Kumari from Bhagalpur district.
Ambika Sharma from Odisha, another successful candidate, said that there is a feeling of brotherhood as both Bihar and Odisha were together till 1936 as one province after being separated from the Bengal Presidency in 1912.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party had earlier alleged that the jobs were like old wine in a new bottle and people who were recruited earlier were being given job letters now.
