Uttarakhand: Job Scams Jolt the Hills

The hill state of Uttarakhand, which is among the youngest in the Indian union, is experiencing tremors of unrest among the youth. This is the result of 'recruitment scam skeletons' tumbling out of the cupboards of successive governments.

For the sceptics the state politicians in the state, be it any party that has enjoyed power since its inception, are living up to their reputation of having converted the state into a 'Scam state' or 'Loot Pradesh'.

While the present Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government under Pushkar Singh Dhami continues to be in a fire fighting mode, the youth are taking to the streets at various places. After a mammoth protest in the state capital of Dehradun last week, there have been protests also at Gopeshwar, Karnprayag, the summer capital of Gairsain, Gauchar, Srinagar and Tharali. More are in the pipeline including ones at Haldwani and Kotdwar.

The people are demanding a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the supervision of Supreme Court into all the recruitment scams in the state since its very formation. One of the most interesting aspects of these demonstrations has been a large participation by young women.

"There is massive anger as the common unemployed youth is feeling cheated and deprived of his or her right to employment in the face of favouritism carried out at the behest of different politicians over the years. They feel that no jobs have been granted in a transparent manner," disclosed CPI (ML) leader and social activist Indresh Maikhuri who has been a part of the protests that are being organised by various groups at various places.

The scams have come tumbling out at two levels. The first is the improper recruitments made in various departments. What has made matters worse is the alleged scandal on the recruitments made to the state Assembly by different speakers.

Sources on the ground say that it all started with a demand aired by Congress MLA from Khatima, Bhuvan Kapri seeking a probe into a recruitment examination conducted by the Uttarakhand State Subordinate Services Commission (UKSSSC) for a paper leak.

Kapri is the MLA who had unseated Dhami from Khatima seat in the assembly polls held in March this year. The latter had to win a by-poll from Champawat after he was nominated as the chief minister again by the BJP despite having lost his seat while leading the party to victory.

Dhami was quick to hand over the probe to a Special Task Force (STF). But once the STF probe took off, there was a multiplier effect. The STF is learnt to have arrested around three dozen accused in the various scams that have come to light or have been added to the list that it is probing.

The STF stumbled upon a scam related to secretariat guards where there were allegations of papers having been sold in advance. Thereafter surfaced allegations over police recruitment done in 2016 during the previous Congress regime.

Among those arrested by the STF is one Hakam Singh who was a BJP leader and a Zila Panchayat member in Uttarkashi. The BJP was quick to expel him. But he proved to be a major source of embarrassment for the party as his photos with the who's who in the political, administrative and police establishments were widely shared.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Karan Mahra accused the former Speaker and present finance minister Prem Chand Aggarwal of having recruited his favourites to the state Assembly. The list is intriguing as it reportedly includes the near and dear ones of those in power.

According to reports, he recruited 129 persons in 2021. Those recruited include those close to the ministers, the wives of officers on special duty and also those who were ideologically close. This gradually went on to shift the focus to the Speaker during the previous Congress regime Govind Singh Kunjwal who reportedly recruited his son and daughter-in-law.

Both have been brazenly defending themselves in the name of their special powers and privileges while claiming that the appointments were made according to requirements and needs.

The present Speaker Ritu Khanduri who is the daughter of former chief minister Major General (Retired) BC Khanduri has ordered a high level probe into the matter. Immediately after her return from Canada last week, she ordered the probe by a three-member panel asking them to submit a report in one month.

"One can understand the extent of misdeeds from the fact that Uttarakhand's parent state of Uttar Pradesh has 400 MLAs and 543 staff members of the state Assembly. In comparison Uttarakhand has just 70 MLAs and the number of staff members in the state assembly is 560.

"The recruitments to the state assembly have been a contentious issue right from the time this state was carved out of Uttar Pradesh. There were promises by successive governments to investigate the matters but nothing ever came out of it and no accountability was fixed," veteran political observer SMA Kazmi told this reporter. He has been documenting the development in the state since its formation.

According to him, "things have been steeped in corruption right from the beginning irrespective of whichever party has been in power. This can easily be called a 'Scandal Pradesh'.

"Right from the time of its formation when there was a scandal even on determining the capital of the newborn state till today, nothing has ever come out in the name of a transparent investigation into scandals. If one looks at the wealth amassed by the majority of the politicians, it has easily gone up by 300% to 400% even in their own affidavits.

"What we are talking about at present is just the scams around recruitments. Many more skeletons will come tumbling out if there is an honest probe into the scandals around infrastructure and other things. Only recently it was the 38th bridge that collapsed in the last five years in the state," he added.

Maikhuri added, "those in power have always cheated the people of the state. A senior bureaucrat in Pauri had his services terminated way back in 2002 for a scam involving recruitment of Patwaris. Things have simply gone downhill from the very beginning."

Where is the present unrest heading? Many observers feel that it has all the potential to blow up into another people's movement. Maikhuri pointed, "if people want something concrete to come out the anger has to translate into political action. The powers that be get into action mode only when they are threatened politically."

Kazmi, however, remained sceptical. "it is not that there was no unrest against the previous government but a communal narrative brought the same people to power again. The majority of the youngsters remain influenced by the narrative. Vilification of a community or a section of population has become a tried and tested norm for the political class," he said.

However, the anger on the issue of jobs continues to spread. Largely confined to parts of Garhwal till now, it is now threatening to engulf Kumaon region as well with a protest planned in Haldwani which is the nerve centre of the region on Wednesday.