A delegation led by the Kannada Development Authority today called on the Union Finance Ministry to immediately modify the eligibility norm for RRB recruitment to give preference to locals with command over regional language for better service.
The demand comes amid growing unemployment in the state where local people are not getting adequate representation in Grade C and D jobs of regional rural banks (RRBs) as people from other states are getting selected due to recent changes made in the eligibility conditions with regard to language proficiency.
As per the earlier condition, a candidate who studied in local language up to Class 10th or graduation was considered for ensuring language proficiency. However, this norm was changed in July this year to Class 8th and six months were given to acquire proficiency in local language after recruitment.
In a meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Kannada Development Authority (KDA) Chairman S G Siddaramaiah demanded that the local language be made compulsory for recruitment of staff in RRBs and restore the previous eligibility criteria with regard to language proficiency.
"Due to the new language proficiency norms, only 300 Kannadigas out of 7,000 who appeared last year were selected. This year, 9,000 candidates are going to appear, but the existing jobs will again go to outsiders," he told reporters after the meeting.
Expressing fears of massive unemployment due to this "faulty" language norm, Siddaramaiah said there would be 30,000 vacancies in various RRBs in the state in the next three years. But if the existing criteria of selection continues, very few from the state would be getting the jobs, it noted.
"RRBs are very important for financial inclusion as they mostly serve rural masses who don't know the language other than the local one. Besides unemployment, it would also lead to waste of resources," he reasoned.
He also demanded that the exams which are due this year should be advanced and conducted in regional languages as followed by the UPSC and other central examinations.
The recruitment exams for RRBs are being held only in Hindi and English, eliminating job opportunity for local people residing in a state.
Noted Kannada writers S L Byrappa, Chandrashekara Kambara, Siddalingaiah, B T Lalitha Nayak were part of the delegation. Kannada Sahitya Parishat Chairman Manu Baligar and retired SBI and RBI officials were also present.
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