Harijans being denied quota benefits

The directive to preserve 80 percent of cleaning jobs in government agencies for Harijans needs to be implemented to protect their rights, an opinion sharing meeting was told yesterday.

The speakers said if the government did not come forward to ensure jobs for the Dalits, the educated people from the communities would drop out.

Harijan candidates have to pay Tk 2-3 lakh in bribe to get a cleaning job even if there is a quota for them, said Ronit Lal, president of Bangladesh Harijan Chhatra Oikya Parishad, addressing the programme at The Daily Star Centre in the capital.

The directive was issued on May 29, 2012, said the Network of Non-mainstreamed Marginalised Communities (NNMC), which organised the meeting.

The directive states that 80 percent of cleaning staff will be recruited from Harijans, but it is alleged that the directive is not being enforced and Bangalee Muslims and Hindus are stealing their jobs, said Prof Ainoon Naher of Jahangirnagar University, sharing findings of a study, "The Dalit communities living in railway colonies/lands in northern part of Bangladesh".

She said there were fears that the Dalits would be deprived of their "traditional livelihood." In the study, Prof Ainoon recommended tackling of corruption and bribery in railway and other public offices to protect their livelihoods and accommodation rights.

Articles 27, 28 and 29 of the constitution clearly state that the law and fundamental policy of the state do not support any form of discrimination against any citizen based on their religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth or profession, but in reality the Dalits are being discriminated against and denied their rights and opportunities, she said.

Speaking as chief guest, lawmaker Shirin Akhtar stressed the need for a coordinated initiative to bring the deprivations of the Dalits to the attention of policy-makers. Anik Asad, country director of HEKS, a Swiss development organisation; Aroma Dutta, member of the National Human Rights Commission, and Prof Dr Mostafa Hasan of Jagannath University also took part in the discussion. Moazzem Hossain, chair of executive committee of NNMC, Monjur Nahar, coordinator of NNMC, and Tonusree Manji of advocacy and communication office of NNMC, were present.