Amitabh Shukla
(Ranchi, May 15)

EVEN AS Ranchi observed a bandh called given by the Jharkhand Janadhikar Manch and its affiliate organisations today, the Jharkhand Government is yet to announce a reservation policy.

This has become one of the thorniest issues for the six-month-old Babu Lal Marandi Government to sort out. It is already feeling the heat due to the passage of the Panchayati Raj Bill and fierce opposition from the numerically strong Kurmi caste.

The bone of contention in the present stir is the percentage of reservation for the Scheduled Tribes of the state.

While the Bihar government had fixed a quota of 10 percent for the STs earlier in the unified state, Jharkhand is now left with no option but to chart out a reservation policy acceptable to all. Bihar is now left practically without any ST population while Jharkhand has 27 percent.