After effecting a major bureaucratic reshuffle posting a group of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe officials in key positions, Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Sunday held a meeting with these officials.
NGOs working for the uplift of Dalits were also invited to the meeting. Mr. Manjhi had reshuffled 18 IAS officers, most of them considered close to his predecessor Nitish Kumar. The Chief Minister brought in bureaucrats of the Dalit community to crucial departments marked for governance.
After Bhola Paswan Shastri and Ram Sundar Das, Mr. Manjhi is the third Dalit Chief Minister of the State.
Bihar has 22 Dalit castes and except Paswans the other 21 are considered Mahadalits. Dalits account for nearly 22 per cent of the total population whereas Paswans make up 4 per cent.
Many political observers believe that Mr. Manjhi has been pursuing Dalit politics. He is doing everything possible to emerge as the tallest Dalit leader in the State while edging out Bihar’s biggest Dalit leader Ram Vilas Paswan to the corner.
In last week’s reshuffle, Mr. Manjhi brought in Sudhir Kumar, a 1987 batch IAS officer, as Principal Secretary (Home).
He also appointed IAS officer Amrit Lal Meena as Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister.
Almost all the officers attended the ‘secret’ meeting which chalked out plans for the uplift of Dalits on a war-footing as elections are due in November.
