On Thursday, the  General, OBC association and Rajya Karamchari Sanyukt Parishad staged a rally to the residence of the residence of Uttarakhand Chief minister in Dehradun. They were demanding the implementation of latest Supreme Court order on the reservation in promotions and withdraw the ban imposed on promotions.

According to reports, the association wants the Uttarakhand Govt start the process on promotions without reservation in the upcoming budget session of the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha starting from March 3 at Gairsain. The association threatens to go on an indefinite strike a day prior to the start of the session on March 02. The association is also planning to hold state wide Mashal rallies on February 26 to warn the government.

The overall demand of the association is summarized is: It is not demanding reversion and only want the state government to remove ban on promotion and undertake promotions on the basis of merit and seniority.

Before making any quick conclusion in support or against the issue, lets quickly consider some points here. 

Firstly, are you affected by the order?

In simple words, are you under the State Government employment or are you a direct dependent of such an employee?

If yes, then you can take any position on the issue. based on what is in your interest.

What if you are neither in State Government employment nor a direct dependent of such an employee ?

If you are not any of these, then don't take any side.

Remain neutral.

Why?

Because. if you are simply a bystander, then it is totally unnecessary for you to take any sides.

Why?

Because this issue of Reservation in Promotion in Uttarakhand does not have the footprint to affect majority of people in Uttarakhand

So there are better options for you to focus on.

If you are a man or woman in private employment or self employment, then pay attention to your employment conditions or business.

If you are a young man or woman preparing for some competitive exams or looking for a job, then focus on that.

If you are a student, then demand better education at affordable costs.

This may look selfish, but this issue of "Reservation in Promotions" is NOT worthy of any broader attention.

More so, it is NOT an issue which should divide common people on caste lines. Social harmony is necessary.

On a broader note, there are certain points which must be considered here:

• At a time when State jobs are already declining, any change brought to the reservation policy will benefit a very small percentage of people. In reality, most of the youth in Uttarakhand is either unemployed or is in private employment. In private sector employment, there is NO reservation of this kind.
• The question of reservation itself is open to interpretation even today. Those who support "Reservation in promotion" for SC and ST categories have strong reasons also. 
• Those who are against reservations do not necessarily have strong arguments to support their view point. For eg., in the latest protests the protestors are saying that they are not demanding reservation in promotions. It is an imaginative claim because there is no provision for reservation in promotions for General category. Another example --- if their demand is to have merit based promotions, then their demand for "Promotions based on Seniority" counters their merit based demand. If they are serious about merit, then a written examination to ascertain merit is a better option than seniority.

To conclude, seen from Uttarakhand's employment perspective, then majority of population of employable age will have NO benefit from any change made by the Uttarakhand Government. 

So lets not get agitated too much.

----