Dalit IAS officer used to think caste bias was a myth. Now he’s fighting it
Tamil Nadu additional chief secretary Jagmohan Singh Raju, a Dalit IAS officer of the 1985 batch, used to think caste bias was a thing of the past for India. Now, four years after his elevation as additional secretary was allegedly stalled over his Dalit roots, he is spearheading a campaign for justice.
“Everyone used to tell me that it (caste discrimination) will happen someday… But for 25 years in service, I didn’t face it at all,” Raju told ThePrint. “But, slowly, when competition began increasing for the top positions, I felt I was being pulled down from everywhere,” he said. “Suddenly, there was so much hostility… As though the entire society has decided that people from our community should not rise to the top.”
According to Raju, Central Vigilance Commissioner K.V. Chowdary used completely “arbitrary and discriminatory” means to impede his empanelment as additional secretary back in 2015.…
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