KOZHIKODE: The Thiyya community of Malabar has lost approximately 25,000 state government jobs to the dominant Ezhava community over the years, the Thiyya Kshema Sabha told the Kerala Institute for Research Training and Development Studies of SC and ST (KIRTADS) during a session organised to hear the grievances of the organisation last Tuesday. The KIRTADS sitting was arranged as instructed by the Kerala State Commission for Backward Classes.
“14 per cent is the reservation allotted under the Ezhava category in the recruitment made by the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) and the Kerala Devaswom Recruitment Board (KDRB). The Ezhava category comprises the communities of Ezhava, Thiyya and Billava. Putting an educationally and financially empowered Ezhava community of southern Kerala alongside the weaker Thiyya community of Malabar is leading to the Ezhavas gobbling up all the reservation opportunities,” said Sukesh T V, treasurer, Thiyya Kshema Sabha.
It is estimated that Ezhavas and Thiyyas are almost equal in population, he said. “Ideally, the reservation should be distributed equally among the two communities. But now, of the 14%, Ezhavas are getting 12% and Thiyyas two per cent. In our estimation, among the existing jobs, Thiyyas have lost 25,000 PSC jobs to the Ezhavas in this way.”
The Thiyya Kshema Sabha had analysed 45 select PSC rank lists between 2004 and 2017, and found that when 11,273 job aspirants from among the Ezhavas found a place in the rank list, just 156 Thiyyas made the list. That is, of the 14% reservation, a staggering 13.81% went to those from the Ezhava community. When the 15 posts under KDRB were examined, Ezhavas enjoyed 13.59% of the reservation benefit, and Thiyyas just 0.41%.
Another important grievance of the Thiyya Kshema Sabha is that there is no split-up data of Ezhavas and Thiyyas in educational institutions, but all Thiyyas are considered as Ezhava. “There is no data of how many seats we lost to Ezhavas. Thiyyas will come nowhere near the Ezhavas in education because there is an acute shortage of educational institutions in Malabar compared to south Kerala,” Sukesh said.
‘Attempt to destabilise Ezhava community’
SNDP Yogam Devaswom secretary Santhosh Aryakandy asked where the Thiyya organisations were when the entire community was in trouble.“When the OBC reservation system was in peril, it was the SNDP which fought against it right from litigation in the Supreme Court to street protests. These Ezhava-Thiyya division claims will only destabilise the community,” he said.