People of Bangladesh have been victims of discrimination at the hands of foreign rulers for thousands of years. It can, therefore, be seen that the development movement started with the aim of eliminating discrimination. The main objective of the great liberation war was to establish a non-sectarian, democratic and egalitarian Bangladesh. The people passed five decades independence, but how much discrimination has been resolved is the question of the day.
After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the British East India Company took control of the country. The main purpose behind the removal of the company鈥檚 rule was to collect taxes. Although the entire subcontinent was under the British rule, Bengal, the most fertile land of the subcontinent, was first acquired by the British. The British reformed the land system, intending to make tax collection permanent. The British created permanent landlords through permanent settlements, resulting in the creation of some zamindars and a new system of collecting taxes from the zamindars.
Under the system, the whole of Bengal 鈥� Bangladesh and West Bengal in India 鈥� was divided by the British into 28 districts and a collector was appointed at each district, who would collect the land tax from the zamindars and deposit it in the British treasury. None of the 28 collectors was Bengalis. As the British occupied the country, they enjoyed all the benefits, including jobs during their two hundred years of rule.
However, towards the end of the British rule, one or two natives 鈥� the British called the Bengalis natives 鈥� were appointed district magistrates, who are now known as deputy commissioners. The British left the country in 1947 and then Bengal was divided. A part of Bengal, East Bengal which later became East Pakistan, fell in the part of Pakistan.
The new colonial rule was introduced in East Bengal and the Pakistanis treated the Bengalis a step more discriminatingly than the British. The main driving force of the governance of any country is the administration and through the people who work in the administration, a direction of the progress is initiated and the governance is managed. Various media and some information available that time show some of the discriminatory behaviours of Pakistanis.
Civil service officers were the main driving force in the administrative field of Pakistan that time. In 1962, out of 954 top officials in Pakistan鈥檚 ministries, only 119 were Bengalis. In 1956, only 2,900 Bengalis were among the 42,000 officials of the central government of Pakistan. As Karachi became the capital in 1947, West Pakistanis got jobs in a large number. In 1966, there were 1,338 residents of East Pakistan as gazetted officers. On the other hand, there were 3,708 gazetted officers in West Pakistan. And non-gazetted officers were 26,310 in East Pakistan and 82,944 in West Pakistan.
In 1962, the number of Bengali officials in Pakistan鈥檚 foreign ministry was only 20.8 per cent. During the Pakistan era, out of 69 ambassadors abroad, only nine were Bengalis. There was extreme discrimination between Pakistanis and Bengalis in the Pakistan army. As of 1955, only 82 out of 2,211 officers in the military were Bengalis. In 1966, only one Bengali officer was among the top 17 officers of the army. At that time, Pakistan had a total of 500,000 soldiers and only 20,000 Bengalis were among these soldiers. Getting a government job was difficult for Bengalis. And this kind of discrimination in government jobs created an extreme anger among Bengalis.
Bengalis were more in proportion to the total population that time. Still, the Pakistanis made such loopholes in the system of governance that Bengalis could not become public servants even if they were more in number. And, the student movement developed around this discrimination. Movements were organised against the Pakistani government demanding equal rights for Bengalis everywhere.
It was a call for the abolition of discriminatory practices and building an egalitarian, egalitarian and non-communal Bangladesh. The people jumped into the liberation war in 1971 at the call of the leader. In exchange for the labour, talent and lives of the freedom fighters of this country, Bangladesh emerged on the world map.
There are various types of quota systems in recruitment. As a result of this quota system, qualified people do not get the opportunity to work in the administration. According to various government recruitment circulars, 45鈥�55 per cent of vacancies are reserved for various quotas. What proportion of the total population are the candidates who get the positions reserved for quota? Bangladesh is a country with a population of about 170 million. When a job notification is given, several special quotas are reserved for the children of freedom fighters, their grandchildren and dependants members of whose family work in the notified government offices, scheduled castes and tribes.
The question here is that for whom this quota is reserved, the beneficiary population of this reserved quota will be less than 10 per cent of the voting population. Forty-five to 55 per cent of the positions are reserved for these 10 per cent of the population based on quota and the rest of the positions are for the remaining 90 per cent. This is also a form of discrimination. Does such discrimination bear the hallmarks of a democratic system?
The nation is indebted to freedom fighters as the took up arms to end the discriminatory practices of the Pakistani regimes and the country became independent in exchange for their sacrifice. During the Pakistan period, public administration was run under the influence and at the advice of some Urdu speakers. And the liberation war is aimed at the abolition of the system.
Now, after 47 years of the liberation war, if some people enjoy benefits like the Pakistanis and the British living here and the large population is deprived, how meaningful is independence? The politicians need to think about this. Moreover, a district quota-based recruitment system is in operation and this system was once necessary to bring backward districts to equality.
Now, Bangladesh is going to become a middle-income country. The development of the country is now balanced. The government is working equally in all districts. It is not right to identify any district as backward after five decades of independence. So, the issue of district quota-based recruitment needs to be reformed. There is a mental conflict between quota-based and merit-based employees among government employees. The issue also creates complications during promotion.
The enrolment rate is about 66 per cent and this rate is the same in all regions. So, reforming the quota system in recruitment is essential. The quota system in recruitment now causes reservations among the general public, which is not desirable in a democratic country.
It is urgent to reform the quota system to fulfil the ideals of the liberation war. The government shoiud, therefore, take necessary steps to create an environment for real people with talent to work for the government by reforming the system. This is the expectation of the supporters of the liberation war.
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Mahbubur Rahman is lecturer at the Rajshahi Cantonment Public School and College.
