 "Recruitment drives to continue in Jharkhand despite CBI, ED raids: CM")
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Friday handed over appointment letters to nearly 3,500 secondary-level teachers here and gave an assurance that recruitment drives would continue in the state despite challenges like CBI and ED raids.
The 3,469 teachers will be posted in all 24 districts of the state.
Terming the day as historic, the chief minister said that the government was committed to continuing with its development programmes and appointments though the country, including the eastern state, was facing another pandemic CBI and ED raids.
Listing action by the central agencies in the state at the behest of the Centre" as one of the challenges, Soren said, "Jharkhand's economy was battered by the COVID-19 pandemic but we faced it and provided relief to our people. As soon as we overcame the pandemic, we were faced with another epidemic.
The entire country is facing CBI, ED raids and our state is not untouched by it. They can continue with their searches and we will continue with our development programmes and appointments. "
The chief minister made the comments while addressing a programme at Tana Bhagat Indoor Stadium, Khelgaon.
The Enforcement Directorate is investigating over a dozen land deals in the state, including one pertaining to defence land, wherein a group of mafias, middlemen and bureaucrats allegedly "connived" in forging deeds and documents from as early as 1932. It is alleged that land parcels of the poor were usurped as part of this fraud.
It has already arrested two Jharkhand cadre IAS officers - Chhavi Ranjan in connection with alleged illegal land deals and Pooja Singhal in a money laundering case linked to the alleged embezzlement of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme funds in Khunti and other suspicious financial transactions.
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The CBI has also conducted several raids in the recent past.
"Despite attaining the status of a separate state, Jharkhand is the most backward state in the country though possessing enough minerals and other resources that fuel growth in the entire country," Soren said.
We will continue with our recruitment drives, citing the recent induction of additional public prosecutors, assistant engineers, medical officers, and nurses.
He said that there were many candidates from BPL categories who had qualified for the Jharkhand Public Service Commission examination and were appointed to various posts.
Teachers were given appointment letters for educating students in regional languages, including Santhali, Mundari, and Kudukh.
Of them, 779 teachers were for History and Civics, 398 for Sanskrit, 341 for Geography, 337 for Hindi, 260 for Economics and 268 for Mathematics and Physics.
Besides 249 English teachers, 232 trained in teaching Biology and Chemistry, 184 in Physical Education, 118 in Commerce, 97 in Music, 27 in Urdu and 50 in Home Science were also given appointment letters.
The teachers who got the appointment letters are for subjects like Santhali (42), Bangla (29), Kudukh (28), Nagpuri and Mundari (11 each), Kurmali (4), Odia (2) and Panchparganiya and Ho (1 each).
While the maximum of 279 teachers is for Ranchi, 263 will be posted in East Singhbhum, 240 in Dhanbad, 230 in Seraikela-Kharsawan, 228 in Godda and 200 in West Singhbhum.
Meanwhile, the BJP slammed the JMM-led government over its employment policy and claimed that these recruitments were possible due to the efforts of the previous BJP regime in the state.
BJP state president and MP Deepak Prakash challenged the chief minister to come out with the facts regarding these appointments.
"As far as the appointments of these teachers are concerned, the public and the candidates know that it is a gift of the previous BJP government. The vacancies were advertised in 2016 during the tenure of the Raghubar Das government.