CM Siddaramaiah writes to Arun Jaitley over rural bank exam

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has written to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stating that introducing centralised recruitment system for Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) goes against the very founding principles” of the establishment of the banks which is to serve rural masses.

All-India recruitment to these institutions, through the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS), has been facing opposition, and on Saturday, students from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana writing online exams in north Karnataka districts faced hostility.

In his letter written to Jaitley on Monday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah sought a re-look into the clauses on language proficiency and immediate amendments to give preference to those who know the regional language. The new rules say that those who do not know the regional languages can learn it within six months, or within a time frame fixed by the board of RRBs.

Siddaramaiah maintained that the IBPS, while framing rules for recruitment of RRBS, had diluted the clause of language proficiency. The present pattern was insensitive to the regional sentiments and causing large-scale resentment among the youth in Karnataka.

“This should be done for the present recruitment. Those who have not studied the regional languages of the States, at least up to SSLC, should not be considered,” the Chief Minister appealed in his letter.He underlined that he present system of Hindi/English mode of examination is a blatant violation of constitutional principles”.

The Chief Minister also appealed to Jaitley to frame stricter rules for providing proper representation to the people having good command over the local language when recruitment for various Central Government departments such as Railways, Central Excise and GST services are being carried out.