25 cadre officers announce work stoppage over alleged discrimination

They demand an end to inter-cadre discrimination

Officials from 25 different cadres have announced a full-day work stoppage across Bangladesh on Sunday, demanding an end to inter-cadre discrimination.

The decision was made during a meeting of the Inter-Cadre Discrimination Elimination Council, representing 25 cadres of the Bangladesh Civil Service, or BCS, on Saturday evening, said Muhammad Mofizur Rahman, coordinator of the council, while speaking to bdnews24.com.

He said, "Recently, 13 officials from the 25 cadres were temporarily suspended over trivial matters such as Facebook posts. However, no action has been taken against administration cadre officials for similar actions. The administration cadre has taken advantage of the discriminatory state system to hinder the activities of the 25 cadres."

"In protest against the administration cadre’s biased suspensions and in demand for the elimination of inter-cadre discrimination, all cadre officials affiliated with the council will observe a full-day work stoppage on Sunday, Mar 2," he said.

“From 10:30am to 11:30am, they will wear black badges and hold banners outside their respective offices," he added.

Earlier on Saturday morning, following a meeting at the conference room of the Agricultural Information Service in Dhaka’s Khamarbari, the council released a statement.

In the statement, Mofizur said: "If the recommendations of the reform commission are fully implemented, efforts to reform the state will fail."

He explained, "All 25 cadres had proposed the establishment of ministry-based professional services and the abolition of the quota system for deputy secretary positions to the Public Administration Reform Commission. Different sectors of society have also called for professionalism in civil service.

“However, instead of addressing public demands, the commission’s report appears to further consolidate the absolute power of an influential group. If fully implemented, this report will result in the failure of state reform efforts and strengthen administrative fascism," he said.

"The proposal to exclude education and healthcare from the cadre system has been subtly altered, creating variations in the recruitment process to gradually remove these sectors from the mainstream.

Furthermore, the exclusion of family planning cadre reform and the unjustified recommendation to remove the statistics cadre from the service will deter talented individuals from joining these fields, leading to a talent drain," he said.

During the meeting, he presented a paper highlighting that "mathematical proficiency is a key measure of intelligence, yet mathematics has been removed in favour of subjects that encourage rote learning, which hinders proper merit assessment.”

“Moreover, interference in the independence of the judiciary, the dissolution of district councils to increase the power of administration cadre officials, and the impractical proposal for a provincial governance system are obstacles to building a welfare-oriented state," he added.