Justin D’Silva

Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (EP)

Udupi, Jan 15: “The orders of the Karnataka state government on January 14 raising the salaries of Guest lecturers have created problems for them,” lamented the guest lecturers of the district.

Manikanta, president of Kundapur taluk Guest lecturers association speaking in a news conference at Udupi said that chief minister Basavaraj Bommai has tweeted announcing that the salaries of seven thousand guest lecturers are increased. “We are about 14,000 guest lecturers in the state and more than half of us are left out from the raise. Besides, the new order states that the lecturers should take up classes for 16 hours. In other words a lecturer should take up classes of two lecturers. The orders have made us unemployed. We had requested for job security but the government is silent about it. The government had appointed us recently. But the new orders state that we have to apply for the jobs online again from Monday and obtain appointments. The government should withdraw the orders immediately,” he urged.

Udupi district guest lecturer’s association president Dr Shahida Jahan said that the government has tried to create cracks among them by following the principle of ‘divide and rule’. “Several guest lecturers have already committed suicides due to the problems. The government has served sweets to seven thousand lecturers, bitter sweets to the remaining seven thousand lecturers and sent them home. The government has brought the families of seven thousand lecturers to the streets. The government should provide job security along with salary for 12 months of the year. Guest lecturers should be provided grace marks in their eligibility tests,” he said.

Guest lecturers Sujatha, Vinaya Chandra, Gururaj and Veda were present.