Members of SC, ST communities stage protest against NMP in Delhi

New Delhi: Scores of people from the schedule castes and the schedule tribes communities on Saturday staged a protest at the Jantar Mantar to oppose the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP).

The protest was held under the aegis of the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations, popularly known as Parisangh -- a organisation comprising employees and social activists. The protest was led by Parisangh national chairperson and former Delhi MP Udit Raj.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had last month announced the Rs 6 lakh crore NMP that will look to unlock value in infrastructure assets across sectors ranging from power to road and railways.

Raj claimed that at present, about 80 per cent government posts are lying vacant.

"Instead of filling up these vacant posts, the Modi government is snatching away (government posts). More than 240 posts are lying vacant in different tribunals. Out of 54 central government universities, there is no single SC/ST/OBC vice chancellor," he said.

"These communities are already at the receiving end in higher judiciary. The courts are against reservation and there is little scope to get any relief from there," Raj said.

He alleged that the education sector is the worst hit by the government policies.

In the New Education Policy, there is no mention of reservation, Raj said.

"As many as 934 of 1,286 posts of professors are vacant in IIMs and situation is equally bleak in IITs. We have been opposing the privatisation since 2002 and fighting for reservation in private sector," he said.

Raj alleged that the privatisation will harm the SC/ST and OBC the most. Their participation in national resources will be further marginalised and resultantly loss of nation, the former MP said.