JOIN USBanking exams: Protests against Kannada exclusion
Social media was abuzz on Monday over the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) continuing to hold exams in just two languages (English and Hindi), though the Constitution recognises 22.
Activist groups are planning protests to demand the inclusion of Kannada as a language in which banking exams can be written.
Kannada groups want the government to restore pre-2014 norms that laid down domicile requirements for bank employees.
Chetan Jeeral, member of cultural and activist group Banavasi Balega, says the government has ignored continuous requests to bring back the domicile clause.
“In 2014, the Indian government changed the rule — anybody can get a job in any state by writing exams in Hindi and English,” he says.
Arun Javagal, state organisation secretary of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV), says the Union government made promises in 2019 that IBPS exams would be conducted in Kannada, but had not kept its word.
“Several MPs have spoken about it but the problem has not been resolved,” he says.
Arun says Article 14 mentions “no discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth”. “However, it doesn’t mention language,” he says, adding that non-Hindi speakers were now at a big disadvantage.
The Karnataka Rakshana Vedike is soon meeting MLAs and MPs to press its concerns, he told Metrolife.
Kannada Grahakara Koota works on creating awareness about Kannadiga consumer rights. Kiran Kodlady, social media in-charge, says advertisements for banking jobs were given widely in northern states, which increased the number of applicants from there, and exams were conducted in English and Hindi, which increased opportunities for them.
‘Rise above party lines’
Ganesh Chetan, convenor, Kannada Grahakara Koota, says the demand for bank exams in Kannada should transcend party differences.
The JD(S) has taken up Karnataka-specific issues and H D Kumaraswamy has been talking about them. From the Congress, Siddaramaiah has been vocal. If political leaders take up the issue of bank exams, the Union government will have to heed them, he says.
Exams on hold
A committee has been constituted to look into the demand for holding examination for clerical cadre in Public Sector Banks (PSBs) in regional languages. The committee will give its recommendations within 15 days. Examination initiated by IBPS will be on hold until the recommendations are available, said a statement on the Press Information Bureau website.