Unemployed graduates protest in Jaffna, UPFA dominates public sector employment

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 July 2012, 18:29 GMT]
SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa's Colombo government is widely blamed for handling new and temporary appointments in the Northern province for electoral political purposes. Recent temporary appointments have been provided with the condition that the employees should extend support the UPFA government in the provincial elections, unemployed graduates demanding justice said. On Thursday, a section of unemployed graduates, who have been sidelined in such appointments, demonstrated in front of the District Secretariat in Jaffna amidst harassment from the SL military intelligence and police commandos.

Sri Lankan riot control police commandos were deployed at the site and the SL police and the SL military intelligence threatened the demonstrators to cancel their protest. However, the unemployed graduates who began their protest at 8:30 a.m. continued the demonstration till 12:30 p.m.

Colombo has given temporary employments to a section of unemployed graduates for 6 months both in North and East. Most of the newly appointed graduates in the government sector have been asked to work with collecting statistics without any permanent assurance on employment on a 10,000 rupee salary per person. EPDP and UPFA politicians have decided the candidates for such appointments.

When the protestors attempted to hand over an appeal to the SL Governor of North, Maj Gen (retd) GA Chandrasiri, the officials at his secretariat declined to allow the protestors to meet the colonial SL governor.

TNA parliamentarian E. Saravanapavan visited the protesting graduates and discussed legal ways to challenge the injustice in the appointments.

Meanwhile, informed civil sources in Jaffna said that the SL minister and EPDP paramilitary leader Douglas Devananda has been competing with SLFP's Jaffna District Organiser R. Angayan to win permanent appointments to those who have been working with them.

Another minister in Mahinda Rajapksa's cabinet, Rishard Badurdeen from Mannaar, has been dominating the agenda of government sector appointments in Mannaar, Mullaiththeevu and Vavuniyaa districts to those who have been supporting him.

Only around 500 of the temporarily employed would be given permanent employment in the first step and the politicians of SLFP and EPDP in the UPFA alliance have been influencing the public administration ministry to provide the permanent employment to their supporters. Following the competing among the UPFA personalities, the ministry in Colombo has been instructed by the Rajapaksa administration to share the appointments among the supporters of the three competing personalities in the Northern Province, the sources further said.

More than 3,000 unemployed graduates have been demanding employment in Jaffna and Vanni alone throughout the last 6 years.

Unemployed graduates in East ignored in employment opportunity

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 January 2012, 06:19 GMT]
Unemployed Graduates and Diploma Holders Association in the Eastern Province has in a memorandum to the Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse accused the Colombo government that they are being deceived after promising employment for 10,000 in 2010 and under the guise of Development Officers Project in 2011. The deprivation of employment opportunities and discrimination shown in providing such opportunities has fuelled the conflict in the past. Such discriminations should not be allowed in the province, said Mr. Hussein Mubarak, the general secretary of the UGDHA in his memorandum to the SL government.

Hundreds of unemployed graduates are over 45 years of age and majority of them are affected by natural disasters. Both the ruling and opposition political parties had promised employment opportunities are currently not seen at the scene, the memorandum states.

The UGDHA general secretary has pointed out in his memorandum that the unemployed graduates who have undergone untold sufferings due to the conflict and natural calamity are finding difficult for their survival without proper livelihood activities.

In the last year unemployed graduates had appeared at two interviews held for the recruitment but there has been no response from the concerned authorities.

They should be given priority when providing fresh appointment in the future, said Mr. Hussein Mubarak in his memorandum with copies to the Provincial Governor, Provincial Chief Minister, Provincial Education Ministry Secretary and Line Education Ministry Secretary.

Unemployed Tamil graduates stage protest in SL militarized Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 December 2011, 18:13 GMT]
Hundreds of unemployed Tamil graduates Friday held a protest in front of the office of the SL Colonial Governor of Northern Province Maj. Gen (retd) G.A.Chandrasiri demanding immediate employment and condemning the lethargic attitude of the Colombo government in providing employment opportunities to the graduates in the North. The demonstration commenced from Va'n'nai Perumaa'l Kovil the city of Jaffna went through Stanley Road and Kandy Road to the final destination in Chu'ndukuzhi where the SL Governor’s Secretariat is located. Around 500 unemployed graduates participated in the protest. No government appointments are made in the North between 2005 till 2010, the protesters complained.

The SL Police had deployed riot squad in front of the Governor’s Secretariat.

The demonstration was peaceful and without any incident.

Around 6,000 graduates are unemployed in the North.

“Action should be taken immediately to provide employment to them, easing their untold sufferings. Vacancies existing in the state sector in North should be filled in a reasonable way and not through backdoor influence”, a representative of unemployed graduates demanded.

Sometime back, volunteer teachers working in Ki'linochchi district held demonstration in front of the Governor’s Secretariat demanding permanency.

Earlier, the SL government had been citing the war as the reason for the failure to provide permanency to volunteer teachers.

However, volunteer teachers in other parts of the island were absorbed into permanency and appointed as assistant teachers.

The successful rally by the unemployed graduates, amidst the prevailing conditions of threat by the SL military, is a testimony to the will power of the civil society to fight for their rights, political observers in Jaffna said.