Bharat Bandh LIVE: UGC Roster, Forest Rights Bone of Contention as Tribal, Dalit Outfits Demand Ordinance

Meanwhile, Samajadwadi Party workers continue to protest in various parts of UP. Other opposition parties who have extended their support to today's bandh include the Aam Admi Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal.

"We will take the necessary legal steps to get the justice. Wait till the Cabinet Meeting and the University community will get the justice. We have already sorted it out and there will be a provision for a 200-point roster and not department-wise recruitment," Prakash Javadekar said.  Following the Supreme Court order in January, the government had announced that it will bring about an ordinance if their review petition is dismissed. The top court last month moved to dismiss the review petition by the Centre. 

'Wait For Last Cabinet Meeting' Says Javadekar | Addressing the media, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar appealed the protestors to stop agitation with the promise that they "will be given justice". Javadekar said that the Centre had never agreed to the Supreme Court's January decision which had upheld the new 13-point roster system. "We have said that we are in favour of the 200-point roster. We are going to give it," he said.

Loktantrik Janata Dal founder Sharad Yadav meanwhile, spoke out against the SC eviction order affecting 10 lakh tribals and other forest dwellers. "We don't want assurance but want justice on d issue of eviction of 10 lakh tribals & similarly on d 13 point roster system in d Universities issue. This Govt is not alert, positive & pro active for social justice. To awake this Govt I support d Bharat bandh," he tweeted.

#5MarchBharatBandh We don't want assurance but want justice on d issue of eviction of 10 lakh tribals & similarly on d 13 point roster system in d Universities issue. This Govt is not alert, positive & pro active for social justice. To awake this Govt I support d Bharat bandh.

— SHARAD YADAV (@SharadYadavMP) March 4, 2019

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has also hit out at the Centre over the UGC roster-system. Yadav in a tweet on Tuesday wrote, "Samajwadi Party is in strong opposition to the 13-point roster system of anti-reservation anti-reservation policy in the educational institutions by the BJP government. Dalit, OBC, backward, weak, deprived opposition, this policy is neglecting and ignoring the constitution".

समाजवादी पार्टी भाजपा सरकार द्वारा शिक्षण संस्थानों में लागू आरक्षण विरोधी 13 प्वाइंट रोस्टर प्रणाली के सख़्त विरोध में हैं.

दलित, ओबीसी, पिछड़ा, कमज़ोर, वंचित विरोध केंद्रित ये नीति संविधान की उपेक्षा व अवहेलना है.

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) March 5, 2019

Opposition Party Leaders Pledge Support | Rashtriya Janata Dal's Tejaswi Yadav, who has expressed his support for today's bandh, slammed the Modi government over the 13-point roster system. "Modi government’s decision to abolish 13 point roster & approval of 10% quota to the EWS in the General category is not in line with the principle of affirmative action in the Constitution. RSS is hell bent on scrapping the reservation of SC/ST & OBCs," he had written in a tweet on Monday

मोदी जी द्वारा 13 प्वाइंट रोस्टर के तहत दलितों-पिछड़ों की उच्च शिक्षा में नौकरियाँ समाप्त करने पर रामबिलास पासवान जी प्रधानमंत्री को साधुवाद देकर कह रहे है कि दलितों का आरक्षण समाप्त करके मोदी जी ने 56 नहीं “156” इंच का सीना दिखाया है। वाह चाचा! इतनी चमचई! #5MarchBharatBandh

— Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) March 4, 2019

HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar will speak on the UGC roster system at 10.30 am. It is likely that he will announce an ordinance to negate the SC order. The top court had in January upheld the Allahabad High Court's ruling that reservation in faculty posts in universities should be applied department-wise and not by treating the university as one unit.

According to the University Grant Commission's new 13-point roster system, individual departments and not universities or colleges will be considered as the unit for implementing reservation for SC/ST or OBC in appointments for faculty positions Many have said that this will drastically cut the number of posts reserved for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes. Dalits, Adivasis and the Other Backward Classes who have been accorded 15%, 7.5% and 27% reservation respectively. Hence, if the unit under consideration is small, there will be no scope for ensuring reservation. 

Protests Erupt in Bihar | More than 10 activists belonging to the All India Students Association have been detained by the police while stopping the train in Bihar's Arrah city. The protesters were detained by the GRP and RPF near the railway station. Meanwhile, operations of the Ahmedabad-Patna train have been interrupted and RJD activists stopped the Janshabadi Express plying from Patna to Ranchi by firing on the railway track near Jehanabad Station. Rashtriya Janata Dal workers have stopped the traffic by blocking the NH 83 near the station gate. Bhim Army members have also taken to protesting on the Patna-Ranchi National Highway 31 in Nawada. Shops near the major roads are expected to remain closed today. 

The order was passed on a PIL which challenged the validity of the Forest Rights Act, passed in 2006 to give back to traditional forest dwellers their right to access, manage and govern forests.

SP Workers Halt Trains in Prayagraj | In Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj, workers of the Samajwadi Party have halted the Gomti train plying to Lucknow. The workers have begun sloganeering from atop the train's engines.Today's bandh has been called over several demands including the 13-point roster, which will affect recruitment to faculty positions in universities and the SC eviction order of tribal groups and forest dwellers.

In Delhi, the protesters are set to march from Mandi House to Parliament Street. Tribals in Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and other states in the Northeast are set to join Tuesday’s bandh. The daylong bandh will culminate in petitions, with these demands being submitted to district administrations at the local level, and to the President and Prime Minister in Delhi.

Several Bahujan groups will also be part of the protests, especially in view of the Supreme Court’s recent dismissal of a review petition on a 13-point roster, which will affect the chances these candidates to take up faculty posts in universities. They are demanding an ordinance that will overturn the roster for department-wise recruitment system in universities.

Bandh to Raise Demand for Better Representation in Govt Jobs | The Dalit and Tribal rights wings have also demanded that the government establish the Indian Judicial Services under Article 312 of the Constitution, for recruitment in higher judiciary posts to ensure inclusion of SCs, STs, OBCs, minorities and women. 

Bharat Bandh Today by Tribal, Dalit Outfits | Tribal and Dalit rights organisations have called for an all-India bandh on Tuesday against the Supreme Court order ut eviction of tribals and forest dwellers, whose claims over forest land were rejected under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. Though the court had put a stay on its order after the petition by the Centre, the tribal groups are of the opinion that it is a temporary relief in the absence of a law and are demanding that the Centre bring in an ordinance to ensure their rights are protected.