Siddaramaiah asks Jaitley to direct IBPS to amend language proficiency clause in Karnataka

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday wrote to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and asked him to direct Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) to amend language proficiency clause for the state.

In his letter, Siddaramaiah said, "I wish to bring to your attention an urgent issue concerning the centralised recruitment system for the banks across the country."

He said that the candidates, with proficiency in local language, should be given preference in selection of Bank Officers and Office Assistants in Karnataka.

The Chief Minister emphasised that the selected candidates must know the local language Kannada to communicate with the people in rural areas.

"The Central recruitment agency, IBPS, while framing rules for recruitment of Office Assistant and others to RRBs has diluted the clause on language proficiency. The recent notification of IBPS dated 22.07.2017 is attached. This change in rules under the system is proving to be utterly insensitive to the regional sentiments causing large scale resentment among youngsters of our state," the letter said.

The Chief Minister said that all the 22 languages included in Schedule VIII of the Constitution of India are national languages and should be given equal importance.

"All 22 languages included in Schedule VIII of the Constitution India are national languages and they demand equal importance with no language having preference over other. Therefore, the medium of examination should in all the 22 officially languages of the Constitution," stated Siddaramaiah.

Siddaramaiah said that this period can be extended by the Boards of RRBs within the framework of the rules and provided that such extension should not be beyond the probation period.

"This deviation from the earlier recruitment policies is going against the very founding principles of establishment of RRBs, which are meant to cater to the banking needs of rural masses. The employees of RRBs are transferred, promoted and placed within the geographical limits of a few districts. These employees are supposed to acquire thorough knowledge of local language and environment to better appreciate the needs of people," he wrote.

Earlier in March, the Karnataka Government had ordered the officers of the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) to implement Kannada as the administrative language in the state saying it would initiate an action against those who failed to do so.

The development came after the Kannada Development Authority (KDA) issued a show-cause notice to senior IAS officer Srivatsa Krishna, who is currently the secretary of the public enterprises department, after he allegedly instructed his subordinates to put up files in English citing they would be returned if instructions were not followed.

The authority reportedly asked Srivatsa for an explanation and an immediate withdrawal of his directive, which reportedly stated that all files had "to be put up in English with relevant acts, latest government order, circulars otherwise the files would be returned."

The notice stated that Kannada is the administrative language in the state and hence, should be implemented at every stage of development adding that the directive by Krishna was "highly condemnable and unpardonable.