Gen Z Adivasis ask for more

Why in the News

Tribal students at the Manjari Scheduled Tribes (ST) hostel near Pune have been on a hunger strike for over two weeks, part of protests at 25 locations across Maharashtra since August 12, demanding that the state act on 14 charges, chief among them a Supreme Court-mandated 2017 order to fill 12,500 government job positions reserved for tribals. The immediate trigger was an August 5 state order capping the age limit for staying in tribal hostels at 26 years, which the government raised to 30 on August 14 after protests began. The agitation gained force after three tribal schoolgirls died of snakebite at a Gadchiroli ashram school that had no beds. The state has held four rounds of talks and withdrawn the age cap, but has given the protesters no timeline on the pending job vacancies, and students say the same demands recur every year.

What are the students protesting, and what triggered this round?

1. Fourteen charges, only one conceded early: The students placed 14 demands before the government, of which it first agreed only to scrap the hostel age limit for admission.
2. A punitive age cap sparked the protest: The August 5 order capping hostel stay at 26 years threatened students who use the hostel to prepare for competitive exams and city jobs, and was raised to 30 only after protests spread.
3. Snakebite deaths widened the demands: Three tribal schoolgirls died of snakebite at an ashram school in Gadchiroli that had no beds, after which protesters added a demand for 1 crore compensation and health insurance for the families.
4. Invasive hostel practices are also contested: The students want Government Resolutions restricting assembly, protests and union participation withdrawn, and an end to compulsory practices such as pregnancy tests in female hostels.

Why has the 2017 Supreme Court-mandated job quota gone unfilled for nine years?

1. A binding order without a deadline mechanism: The Supreme Court directed in 2017 that 12,500 government job positions be filled for tribals, but nine years on the vacancies remain open with no fixed completion date.
2. The state cites inter-departmental delay: A government official said filling the vacancies “cannot be done overnight” because multiple departments are involved, without naming a target date.
3. Hostel capacity has not kept pace with demand: The state runs 490 tribal hostels housing 59,020 students, and students say the government has not expanded this capacity for several years even as demand for seats in city hostels has grown.

What does the state’s handling of the protest reveal about tribal welfare governance?

1. Concessions follow political pressure, not review: The age cap was withdrawn only after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi gave the protesters a platform at a Pune rally and wrote to the Chief Minister, not through an internal policy review.
2. Design choices override student preference: The state defends centrally cooked meals for hostels as easier to monitor, while students say food travelling up to 100 km from central kitchens often spoils by the time it reaches them.
3. The protest is a recurring one: Students say they have held similar protests for four consecutive years over the same unmet demands, including hostel safety and hygiene.
4. The hunger strike has produced a medical emergency: Two of the six students on hunger strike, weak after 14 days without food, needed to be moved for hospital treatment as their blood pressure and blood sugar dropped.

Challenges to filling the Scheduled Tribes job quota

1. No enforcement timeline attached to the court order: A Supreme Court direction to fill a quota carries no built-in penalty for delay, so the executive can let vacancies persist for years without consequence. Eg. The 2017 order remains unimplemented nine years later even as the state government publicly reaffirms it will comply. Fix. Require the state to file a compliance affidavit before the Court every six months, naming the number of posts filled and the department responsible for the remainder.
2. Fragmented departmental ownership slows recruitment: Filling a quota spread across “many departments” leaves no single authority accountable for the shortfall. Eg. A state official cited inter-departmental coordination as the reason recruitment “cannot be done overnight.” Fix. Designate one nodal department to consolidate vacancy data and recruitment timelines across departments and report progress publicly.

Conclusion

The Manjari hunger strike has forced the Maharashtra government to withdraw one contested order and promise action on the rest, but the core grievance, a Supreme Court-mandated tribal job quota unfilled nine years on, remains unresolved without a stated timeline. Whether this round of protest produces a written, binding commitment or another round of verbal assurance will determine if the annual cycle of protest continues.

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