SFI and DYFI Protest in Mumbai, CM Assures to Take Action On the Demands

On March 23, Student Federation of India (SFI) and Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) held a protest march in Mumbai on the issues of employment and education. This was in the continuation of the protest march which took place in Maharashtra in the month of January.

It is being reported that around 3,500 students and youth from all over Maharashtra had come to participate in the protest. The protesters were to march till the Maharashtra State Assembly but were stopped mid-way by the police. Hence they blocked the road for an hour. Due to the pressure built by the protesters, Chief Minister Fadnavis agreed to meet them.

The leaders of the protest put forward their demands to the Chief Minister and also handed him a Memorandum of the same, the Chief Minister has assured them that the action on their demands will be taken soon.

The protesters, led by SFI and DYFI, had six major demands:

Filling of the 3.5 lakh vacancies in Government Departments in Maharashtra.

An urban ACT like MGNREGA for providing urban employment should be made.

Unemployment allowance to be given to all who are not given jobs under MGNREGA in Rural areas and MGNREGA to be implemented properly.

In name of unification, the 12,000 government schools that are being shut down, should be stopped immediately.

Fellowship, Scholarship and Hostel facilities for the SC/ST students that are being closed down by the Government, should be discontinued.

Swift implementation of the 25% reservation in private schools for the economically backward students under Right To Education Act in Maharashtra.

Talking to Newsclick, the All India General Secretary of Student Federation Of India Vikram Singh said “The private Schools are saying that they are not getting any funds from the Government for the underprivileged students and hence they have stopped taking applications for the same.This is why we have demanded a time-bound action to be taken on this issue as the academic session has already started. After our insistence on this and other issues, the Chief Minister has agreed for arranging a meeting with the Ministers of all the concerned departments.”

The Chief Minister has said that he would be taking action on specific issues of MGNREGA and Right to Education as soon as possible.

Preety Shekhar the Secretary of DYFI Maharashtra said “The anger is also against the privatization and contractual employment in the Government Department. Students who have even cleared NET exams are being employed on a contractual basis and get as low as Rs 3,000 a month. Maharashtra public service commission exams, which are for class 1 and class 2 level officers, are not happening in a transparent manner. According to the Economic survey of India, there are about 45,000 vacancies in the department, but they have given a call for filling only 69 posts, this is an absolute joke.”

Activists are claiming that since the advent of neoliberalism in India, the Government is steadily shying away from its responsibility for providing welfare services. It is being claimed that since the last 25 years successive governments in Maharashtra, whether they be of any party, are deliberately not making appointments in government Departments. And when they are finally being made, they are on a contractual basis or through third parties. This is the core problem of unemployment in the state. Anger against these issues is constantly rising in the state and protesters say that they would intensify the struggle if their demands are not met soon.