With no contract job rule, wrong has been righted
On Saturday last, a day before he turned 76, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik addressed the people of the state and announced the abolition of contractual appointments by his government for all times to come, a decision he described as ‘historic’. He harked back to when he took over the reins in 2000—in the aftermath of the 1999 Super Cyclone that left Odisha in the midst of an unspeakable tragedy. New at the helm, Naveen was left to deal with an unprecedented humanitarian crisis as well as an economic gloom of gigantic proportions. Its hands tied, the government stopped recruitment to manage the financial mess it had inherited from years of Congress rule.
In 2013–14, the BJD administration introduced the contractual appointment system under which it recruited educated youth working with basic grade pay without promotional benefits. In subsequent years, the Pay Commission recommendations did not bring any good news to these thousands of employees who, on their part, came through the graded appointment process of various staff selection panels in the state. Its social fallouts were palpable too.
These employees failed to secure loans from banks, while many complained they faced rejection in marriage proposals simply because of the ‘contractual’ tag that came with their jobs. The move is expected to cost the Odisha exchequer at least Rs 1,300 crore per annum, which is roughly 0.65% of the state’s budget. More importantly, the government will be under pressure from other such groups in the coming days. Thousands of teachers, health workers and other ad hoc employees will see hope in the announcement. With a large bouquet of development schemes, the BJD government will have to strike a final fiscal balance. However, it appears prepared well in advance as it had created a `10,000 crore Budget Stabilisation Fund to deal with unexpected revenue shortfalls triggered by external factors. This will leave the schematic commitments untouched.
The government’s humongous decision is expected to bring in electoral gains in the ensuing polls, which is why the Opposition is busy finding loopholes in the massive announcement. But the fact remains that in a single stroke, Naveen has changed the lives of over 57,000 employees by righting a wrong that they did not deserve to grapple with for so many years.