Breather for TMC in teaching jobs scandal

Beyond the politics, though, the long-term implications of this case are dire.

The Supreme Court’s decision to temporarily suspend a Calcutta high court verdict that scrapped nearly 25,000 teaching jobs has both immediate and long-term fallouts.

The Supreme Court (Arvind Yadav/HT Photo)

In the near term, the decision will give some respite to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government which has been under fire for the grassroots corruption of its leaders. Allegations of large-scale irregularities in the state Staff Selection Commission (SSC) examination had the potential to hurt chief minister Mamata Banerjee more than any other charge because it was a bread-and-butter issue close to the common person in a state where government jobs are still held in high regard. This is why the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) invested extra energy to target the TMC in this case — unlike in other cases, corruption here was not only affecting the high and mighty but also ordinary people. To that extent, the TMC will breathe easy that the final decision on the case will come in July, well after the general elections are over.

Beyond the politics, though, the long-term implications of this case are dire. When seen alongside the bursts of anger around regular exam paper leaks in north India, it underlines the soaring aspirations of India’s youth and a singular failure of the political class to address them. In the world’s most populous country, corruption — whether it be in recruiting teachers or leaking question papers — continues to gnaw at the future of millions of young men and women, for whom the prospect of a government job is the only lever out of a life of destitution. Resolving this conundrum will need more than legal diktats. It will need political will.