Forget about political religious polarisation, think about polarisation in recruitments witnessed in the selection of firemen in the fire and emergency services and some class IV posts in fisheries department few days back. Taking majority of the selectees from Budgam district in the fire & emergency services department and then also only from Budgam area of the district shows that government is polarising the people of Kashmir even in the recruitments of class IV posts. So obviously the government has started carrying out the selection process from Class IV posts with the obvious motive of creating political space for the non political entities of a particular political party not connected well with the people at grass roots. Even Congress during decades of it’s direct rule in erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state could not create a political space for either itself or it’s collaborators in Kashmir and so the incumbent government is also bound to fail in it’s plans to create political space for it’s collaborators in Kashmir by embarking on a plan of polarization in recruitments. As the selections contradict the claims of Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on equitable development and equal opportunities for people of all the regions and all the districts, this unhealthy tendency of the government by any standards of understandability is not a good omen for either the future of political discourse or the transparency in selection processes in Jammu & Kashmir. Already the government has come in for sharp criticism and condemnation over the recruitments in Jammu & Kashmir Bank during last two years of direct central rule and the polarization noticed in the selections of firemen in the fire & emergency department has only further eroded the faith of people in the working of the government particularly the selection of youth for government jobs. Interestingly the four government departments including fire & emergency services department, the fisheries department and PWD department issued refutal statements on class IV recruitments just two days ago but the authorities may agree or disagree but the general public perception is that refutal of any news report finally becomes it’s complete endorsement and as such refutal of news reports particularly those concerning selection for government job leads to bad publicity.
Neither the “ back to village” program nor the grievance redressal system of the Jammu & Kashmir government but the transparency in the recruitments is the only way to restore the faith of people in the working of the government and address the growing trust deficit in Jammu & Kashmir.
Instead of refuting the reports better it would have been for the government to probe the allegations of the aggrieved candidates to their complete satisfaction and any other attempt to cool down the tempers of angered aggrieved candidates would further deepen the crisis of credibility the recruiting agencies of the government are facing in Jammu & Kashmir right now. Unfortunately barring a couple of mainstream leaders none of the top leaders of the frontline mainstream parties have dared to speak against the polarisation noticed in the recruitments of firemen in fire & emergency services department and similar vacancies in the fisheries department. Neither the “ back to village” program nor the grievance redressal system of the Jammu & Kashmir Government but the transparency in the recruitments is the only way to restore the faith of people in the working of the government and address the growing trust deficit in Jammu & Kashmir.
