Patna: Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor, participating in the ‘Teacher Dialogue’ programme in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur, said that ensuring 7th Pay Commission pay scale for all categories of teachers in Bihar, before the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, is a guarantee of his party.
He assured that the decades-old issue faced by ‘unaided’ teachers would be resolved and their status regularised while noting that the teaching community in Bihar was divided into various categories, including contractual, special and guest teachers.
Reiterating Jan Suraaj’s pledge to ensure the 7th Pay Commission scale for all teachers, Kishor said that state-level standards would be established regarding the deployment of teachers for non-academic duties, thereby preventing district-level officials from arbitrarily assigning such tasks to them, emphasising the need to end their ‘exploitation’.
Regarding the Graduates’ constituency election, Kishor added that if Jan Suraaj candidate B. Mohan wins, the movement would take responsibility for securing employment for 10,000 educated, unemployed youths.
He said that Shyam Nandan Yadav would champion the cause of teachers, while B. Mohan would serve as the voice of graduates.
Speaking about the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), Kishor remarked that former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was the party’s true strength and with him becoming politically inactive, the JD-U has no future.
He alleged that the JD-U in Bihar is being controlled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and claimed that the party’s merger with it, within the next three to four years, is inevitable.
“Sooner or later, the JD-U will be weakened to such an extent that it will either become the BJP’s ‘B-team’ or merge into the BJP,” Kishor said, adding that he could be held accountable if this prediction did not come true.
Responding to the JD-U’s questioning of Jan Suraaj regarding its lack of power and its promises including the 7th Pay Commission, Kishor said that although Jan Suraaj is not in power, its advocacy led to the elderly pension being raised from Rs 400 to Rs 1,100 and the Student Credit Card limit being restored to Rs 4 lakh from Rs 2 lakh.
(IANS)
