Casteism pushes senior IAS officer to voluntary retirement in Telangana

With more evidence that casteism is still prevalent in modern-day India and unfortunately is increasing, a senior IAS officer in Telangana took a voluntary retirement with just 10 months left for his service. The IAS officer said that being an officer belonging to the Scheduled Caste, he did not have much work to do for the past one-and-half -years. 

Akunuri Murali, who was serving as Director-General of the Telangana State Archives, submitted his resignation letter to Chief Secretary SK Joshi on Saturday, reports The News Minute. He said that one of the main reasons for his decision is that he did not have any work for the past one-and-half-years.

"There is discrimination in postings and the way an SC officer is treated," Murali told Deccan Herald while submitting his resignation. Along with this, Murali said that thew lack of work is what primarily drove him to put down his papers. 

"In my present post, I have had no work at all for the last 1.5 years. That is why I have opted for voluntary retirement," Murali had told reporters.

"I have completed 38 years of service in the government. I used to work hard. But I have literally no work to do these days," the IAS officer had said alleging that IAS officers belonging to marginalised communities did not receive a lot of work. There is discrimination in the postings as well as the behaviour towards the officer depending on their social status.

Giving examples, Murali said that the money used for the Kaleshwaran lift irrigation project in Telangana could have been used to uplift society and help in the betterment of government schools. He had said, "Except for Kerala and Delhi, nobody in this country prioritises education."

However, Murali said that Telangana is not the only state in India where officers belonging to scheduled castes are discriminated but the cases are more here compared to other places.