LRD recruitment: Now, male job aspirants demand additional vacancies

The male job aspirants want supernumerary posts for men, similar to those given to women in February this year to bring not only gender equality, but also a balance of 33% female and 67% male candidates in any government recruitment.

Hundreds of male job aspirants from Gujarat have been running an online campaign, with hashtag #Justice_LRD_Male, these days seeking ‘justice’ for them in the recruitment of Lok Rakshak Dal (LRD) on the ground of gender equality.

The LRD male job aspirants have been protesting after the state government, in February this year, announced over 2,000 supernumerary posts for women in the recruitment following protests by women from different communities over a government resolution (GR) of August 2018 on women’s reservation. The male job aspirants want similar supernumerary posts for men to bring not only gender equality, but also a balance of 33% female and 67% male candidates in any government recruitment.

One of the leading protesters Kamlesh Solanki from Surendranagar said, “After the agitation from the women over the GR of August 2018, the Gujarat government struck a compromise with them by having 2,485 supernumerary posts for them. If the government is declaring such additional vacancies for women, they must do it for men also. But, they have not done so and it is violation of gender equality.”

“Apart from that, according to a GR of Gujarat government of 2014, in any government recruitment, the ratio of 33% women and 67% male should be maintained. But here, after those supernumerary vacancies for women, the ratio is not maintained in the LRD recruitment. Therefore, we are demanding announcement of appropriate supernumerary vacancies for men so that the ratio of 33% women and 67% men is fulfilled,” he added.

Solanki said they had an informal group of around 3,500 male LRD job aspirants who were protesting with their demands for the past around three months now.

“Initially, we protested on ground. However, immediately after that, the lockdown was imposed. So now, we are registering our protest on social media. Apart from floating this hashtag – #Justice_LRD_Male, we have also been sending text messages and emails to various state and central authorities with our demand,” Solanki said.

Another protester, Suresh Gelot from Banaskantha said, “We are very happy for the women who got justice and jobs after their agitation. And we are also demanding justice for us. Declaring supernumerary vacancies for women candidates and not for male is gender discrimination.”

“Currently, we are protesting on social media and through virtual means. But, once the lockdown is over, we will come on streets to register our protest,” Gelot added.

Solanki said that they have been trying to reach out to various authorities of the state government with their demand. “But, nobody is even engaging with us on the issue,” he said. He also added that they were planning to approach Gujarat High Court with their demand.

The recruitment for the LRD was announced in 2018 and after the written examination; women candidates from various communities getting social reservation had staged marathon 24×7 protest for around 70 days at Satyagrah Chhavani in Gandhinagar. They were protesting against an August 2018 GR that barred them from competing in the open competition category within the 33% women’s reservation.

Against them, some women candidates, who were not getting social reservation, had also started agitating in support of the 2018 GR. Eventually, the state government had brought out a compromise formula of declaring supernumerary vacancies for women by announcing a cut off mark of 62.5 out of 125 marks in the examination. The state government had also announced to set aside the controversial 2018 GR for the instant LRD recruitment.

Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja could not be reached over the issue.