THE issue of public service job reservation that initiated the July uprising has remained unattended since the uprising finally toppled the Awami League government. The students who took to the streets in July 2024, demanding a rational reform in the quota system, and the authorities have somewhat accepted the reform that the Awami League government announced days before its overthrow. Various sections of people have, however, questioned the reform that the Awami League made and demanded a rational reform. A week after the quota movement was forced into violence by indiscriminate attacks on protesters by Awami League fronts and law enforcers, the Appellate Division on July 21 issued a ruling, reducing the 56 per cent quota to only 7 per cent. The ruling said that 93 per cent of government, semi-government and autonomous institution jobs would be based on merit while the 7 per cent would be met with quota. Of the 7 per cent, 5 per cent is reserved for the children of freedom fighters, martyrs and biranganas, 1 per cent for national minorities and 1 per cent for people with disabilities and transgender people. Quotas for women and people from underdeveloped districts were altogether scrapped, triggering dissatisfaction.
It is understandable that students and people did not heed the ruling as the movement by then had already turned into an uprising, demanding justice for the death and injuries of several hundred. What is unacceptable is that the interim government, installed on August 8, 2024, and the Students against Discrimination, which led the quota movement, have not yet resolved the issue, taking the complaints of different sections of people into consideration. The government has, however, formed a committee to review the application of the quota system to government jobs. There is a public perception that the reform that the Awami League did to the quota system was not well thought out but was intended to appease the protesters, who by then were demanding justice for the indiscriminate killing and jailing. In 2018, the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina scrapped all quotas in a whimsical response to students鈥� demand for a logical reform. The constitution in Article 29 also allows the state to make 鈥榮pecial provision in favour of any backward section of citizens for the purpose of securing their adequate representation in the service of the republic鈥� or make special provision for a special recruitment law for specific jobs.
The authorities should, therefore, consult all stakeholders, take the cognisance of the grievances, if any, of any groups and review and rationalise the quotas, if needed.
