Inter-caste couples' job GO in 15-year limbo; Dravidian majors shirk social justice path

CHENNAI: It has been 15 years since the State government last implemented its order – GO Ms 939/1986 – which gives priority to inter-caste couples (where one of the spouses belongs to the SC/ST community) in government jobs. The GO was introduced to encourage inter-caste marriage as a means of eradicating caste-based discrimination, but it has remained in oblivion since 2011, after the DMK regime under the then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi demitted office.

S Karthik and J Prisilla Rani, a couple from Krishnagiri, are among the many inter-caste couples in the state still waiting for a government job under the Group II category. However, their hopes are fading, with no sign of the scheme getting revived.

“We updated our registration at the employment office within two months of our marriage, submitting all necessary documents related to our inter-caste marriage. Our registration number was 11546/2011/A4, but there has been no positive response from the authorities,” said Karthik. He and his wife are both postgraduates and have completed a BEd, hoping to secure teaching positions in government schools.

Karthik and Prisilla Rani are not alone in this battle, said M Krishnamurthy, one of the beneficiaries of the scheme. “I petitioned the then Chief Minister Karunanidhi when he visited Krishnagiri for a government function in 2008. The government responded immediately. But it came to a standstill after the DMK regime ended in 2011,” said Krishnamurthy, who was appointed as a government school teacher in 2010 under the scheme.

Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front general secretary K Samuel Raj said they have passed resolutions at every single conference demanding that the government revive the scheme, but to no avail. There has been no response, he said. Neither the AIADMK, which returned to power in 2011 and governed the state for the next 10 years, nor the DMK, which came to power later on, showed interest in reviving the scheme, he laments.

“A total of 287 people who had entered into inter-caste marriages were appointed as government school teachers during the DMK regime between 2006 and 2011. But not a single eligible candidate under this category has been appointed since,” VCK general secretary D Ravikumar said.

Despite repeated appeals to former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami to revive the GO, originally issued by party founder and former Chief Minister MG Ramachandran, no action was taken, Ravikumar said. “I have submitted a petition to the present Chief Minister, M K Stalin, highlighting this issue. At a time when caste-based discrimination is rising in the State under the influence of Hindutva forces, ignoring such progressive initiatives aimed at promoting equality only undermines the cause of social justice,” he said.

He further stated that the bureaucracy has become a stumbling block in implementing the GO, citing the lack of recruitment through employment exchanges as a reason. “What is needed now is a political will to mandate this provision through TNPSC appointments,” he said, appealing to CM Stalin to issue appropriate directions to the authorities to reactivate the GO ahead of the Assembly polls in 2026.