The Vishwakarma community has protested against the decision of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government to set job quota for economically backward sections among forward communities in the five Devaswom boards.
“This is not only against the principles of social justice but the government has also excluded the Vishwakarma community which constitutes the third largest group among the Hindus after Ezhavas and Nairs. Now the Vishwakarma community is only included in the list of Other Backward Classes,” V. Rajendran, spokesman and chief coordinator of the Vishwakaram Coordination Committee, said on Monday. Last week, the State Cabinet had taken a decision to make necessary amendments in the Devaswom recruitment rules in such a way that 10% reservation would be given to the economically weak among the forward communities.
The reservation of the Ezhava community would also go up to 17% from the existing 14% and that of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to 12% from 10%. The reservation of backward communities will be 6% as against the earlier 3%. He pointed out that already the majority of employees in the Travancore Devaswom Board, Guruvayur Devaswom, Cochin Devaswom and Malabar Devaswom Board belonged to the forward community.
Raw deal
“At the same time, the Vishwakarma community who are closely associated with the temples have been given a raw deal. The Vishwakarma community should be provided separate quota for appointments in all Devaswom boards. Till now, none from the Vishwakarma community had been appointed chairman of a board,” he said. He said it was also the first time that the State government was going to implement economic reservation for forward communities.
