Chandigarh: The Haryana government has stepped in to clear the air over the controversial recruitment eligibility criteria for the posts of rangers, deputy rangers, and foresters wherein even women aspirants are expected to undergo chest measurement.
Responding to the furore over a Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) notification for physical measurement tests (PMT) for various categories of Group C jobs, the government issued a press release Saturday that these recruitments are based on Haryana Forest Service (Executive) Group C rules, 1998, which prescribe the physical standards of height and chest for both males and females.
All such recruitments have been done on the basis of these physical standards and 22 female Forest Guards and four female foresters have been recruited over the years, it said.
“Even the Ministry of Environment, Forest and climate change, Government of India, in its model guidelines, prescribes physical standards for height and chest measurement in the case of both males and females for recruitment,” said the press note.
It also said that only women doctors conduct tests on female candidates during the recruitment process. “The adjoining state of Punjab is also keeping physical measurements for height and chest in case of both male and female candidates in the matter of recruitment of forest field staff,” it said.
It must be noted that first a common entrance test was held following which, candidates eight times the number of posts have been asked to appear for the PMT. After that, candidates four times the number of posts will be selected for a physical screening test, which checks their fitness levels, and a job-specific written test. According to the notification uploaded on the HSSC website 7 July, the PMT is scheduled for 12-23 July at Tau Devi Lal Stadium, Sector 3, Panchkula.
It says the chest measurement for female candidates must be at least 74 centimeters (unexpanded) and 79 centimeters (expanded).
The notification evoked angry reactions from both activists and the Opposition.
Recruitment activist Shweta Dhull was the first to hit out against this on social media, calling it “an act of harassment” on Twitter. “Even the mere mention of an unexpanded and expanded chest in case of women is indecent and obscene,” she said in a press note circulated on WhatsApp.
“When they don’t measure the chest of women candidates for the police force where the duty of the recruits is to maintain law and order, why do they need to measure it for the forest department? In the case of women, the PMT must be limited to height, weight, and physical tests,” she said when ThePrint contacted her Saturday.
She said there must be other scientific methods for measuring one’s lung strength.
HSSC chairman Bhopal Singh didn’t answer calls nor did he reply to a message ThePrint sent to him. The story will be updated once he responds.
When contacted by ThePrint, Haryana Forest Minister Kanwarpal Gurjar said he would look into the issue.
“I will have to check with the HSSC whether our (forest) department mentioned this condition in the recruitment rules or the HSSC included this on its own…if it is found that such a condition doesn’t exist in police and there is no need for such a measurement, the government will intervene and make necessary amendments in the notification,” he said.
Opposition reacts
Calling the move “shameless, offensive, insensitive and uncultured”, AICC general secretary Randeep Surjewala said that it was shocking why the Haryana government wants to insult daughters when no such conditions exist in police force anywhere in the country.
In a tweet, he sought an immediate withdrawal of this criterion and also an apology to “the daughters of Haryana”.
खट्टर सरकार का नया “तुगलकी” फ़रमान !
अब हरियाणा की बेटियों की “छातियाँ मापेंगे” – फारेस्ट रेंजर व डिप्टी फारेस्ट रेंजर की भर्ती के लिए !
7 जुलाई, 2023 को बाक़ायदा नोटिस जारी कर कहा है कि इन दोनों पोस्ट के लिये उम्मीदवार युवतियों/महिलाओं का “अनएक्सपेंडेड चेस्ट” 74 सैंटी मीटर व… pic.twitter.com/SfV6kaxaLX
— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) July 8, 2023
Rajya Sabha MP and senior Congress leader Kumari Selja tweeted that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party only does lip service. Tagging Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in her tweet, she demanded that the order be taken back.
Senior Congress leader and former minister Kiran Choudhry tweeted demanding an immediate withdrawal of the ‘sharmnaak farmaan’ (shameless diktat).
फारेस्ट रेंजर भर्ती में प्रदेश की बेटियों की छाती मापने का आदेश सरकार का हमारी बेटियों के मान-सम्मान के प्रति असंवेदनशीलता का उदाहरण है। सरकार ये भूल गयी है कि हरियाणा में महिला पुलिस की भर्ती में उम्मीदवार की छाती नहीं मापी जाती। इस शर्मनाक फरमान को सरकार तुरंत रद्द करें। pic.twitter.com/Tj0N2J7L3t
— Kiran Choudhry (@officekiran) July 8, 2023
Former Haryana CM and the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, Bhupinder Singh Hooda also demanded annulling of the order, adding, “Recruitments have been held in the past too, but such offensive parameters have never been adopted in the past.”
फॉरेस्ट रेंजर और डिप्टी रेंजर पद के लिए होने वाली भर्ती में महिला उम्मीदवारों की छाती नापने का फ़ैसला हरियाणा ही नहीं बल्कि देश की हर महिला का अपमान है। सरकार इस आपत्तिजनक फैसले को वापिस ले।
इससे पहले भी भर्तियां होती आई हैं। लेकिन आजतक कभी पुलिस की भर्ती में भी ऐसे आपत्तिजनक… pic.twitter.com/vDMXiFNWzB
— Bhupinder S Hooda (@BhupinderShooda) July 8, 2023
He said such a decision was an insult to not just women of Haryana but of the entire country.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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