Will Bangladesh’s top court decision to scale back government jobs quota end demonstrations?
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00:00Bangladesh's Supreme Court has scaled back controversial quotas for government jobs which
00:05had sparked deadly protests.
00:06A lawyer said the court also urged students to return to the classroom.
00:11The country has been in turmoil this week.
00:14At least 150 people have died in clashes between security forces and students.
00:19Now the ruling is a victory for protesters, but it remains to be seen if it will quell
00:24the anger on the streets.
00:26Protests against the quotas snowballed into a wider movement against unemployment, corruption
00:31and economic marginalization.
00:34For more, let's speak to our regional correspondent, Navadita Kumari, joining us from New Delhi.
00:38Hello to you, Navadita.
00:40What does this ruling from Bangladesh's Supreme Court say?
00:44Hello, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, after hearing on the quota system, has significantly
00:51reduced the percentage of seats reserved for the families of war veterans from 30%
00:58to a 5% reservation for them.
01:02They say that the overall reservation, which was earlier 56%, will now be only 7%.
01:09So the Supreme Court has said that, and as you just mentioned, asked the students to
01:15go back to their classrooms.
01:18Just to give you a bit of the background, why this quota system triggered this widespread
01:24protest in Bangladesh is because most of the youths of the country are struggling to find
01:30jobs as unemployment rates dwindle.
01:34More than a quarter of the 170 million people in Bangladesh are in the age group of 15 to
01:4229, and they see these government jobs as a golden opportunity to secure their future,
01:49which are well-paid, these jobs, and they give also prestige in the society.
01:54So that's why every year more than 400,000 candidates apply for over 3,000 government
02:01jobs.
02:02And as of now, we have not been able to hear the first reactions of the protesters, as
02:08we know that since the Thursday, telecommunications services and the internet has been suspended,
02:14cutting off the country from the rest of the world.
02:17We are not able to make phone calls to confirm what are their reactions and whether they
02:22are going to accept this ruling or they will continue their demonstrations.
02:26All right, Navadita.
02:27Thank you very much, Navadita Kumari, reporting there.