House committee holds meeting in Karnataka’s Shivamogga, reviews schemes meant for backward classes

The Department of Backward Classes Welfare, with a current vacancy of 8,792 including posts of wardens and cooks, was forcing their staff with additional responsibilities, said officials of the department.

During a review meeting conducted by the Legislature House Committee on Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare in Shivamogga on Wednesday, officers pointed out that of the total 16,105 sanctioned posts, only 7,313 posts have been filled. The hostels and residential schools run by the department are facing staff shortages, they said.

“Among 1,297 posts of wardens for boy’s hostels, 863 are vacant. Similarly, in case of wardens of 829 ladies’ hostels, 402 posts remain vacant. In Shivamogga district, there are 137 hostels run by the department. However, there are only 62 wardens. To manage work with the available staff, each warden has been entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing two or more hostels,” officers informed the House committee, headed by A.R. Krishnamurthy.

Members of the committee, including Mr. Krishnamurthy, maintained that assigning one person to manage more than one hostel was not acceptable and not in the best interest of the students. Mr. Krishnamurthy pointed out that in some places, cooks had been given the charge of warden, weakening the administration.

The committee also pointed out the shortage of seats in hostels for eligible candidates. In the current academic year, more than 1.5 lakh students belonging to backward classes could not secure hostels, it said.

The officers told the committee that around 50% of the students, who missed the hostel facility, enjoy the benefit of the Vidyasiri scheme, under which each student gets ₹1,500 per month. However, the rest would not receive the facility, given the allocation of ₹105 crore for the scheme. For the Social Welfare Department, applicants belonging to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe community are accommodated as per the policy that ensures hostels for all applicants.

The members of the committee felt that all the applicants of backward classes should also receive the hostel accommodation. “It is a policy matter. The committee will recommend the government to ensure hostel for all the applicants,” Mr. Krishnamurthy said. He also stressed the need for the opening of new hostels to accommodate more students.

Dhananjay Sarji, MLC and a member of the committee, stated that many university and college students face trouble due to the delay in admission to hostels and must make alternative arrangements for months before getting admission. The officers responded that the admission to post-metric hostels occur three times a year, based on pre-university, degree, and post-graduate admission timetables.

“We offer seats to students of all courses. However, the institutions and universities offering courses do not follow a uniform calendar of events and admissions take place throughout the year. Hence, it is difficult to reserve seats for students of a specific course in each hostel and conduct separate admission processes for them,” the officers explained.