Gurugram: Accused by the Congress of giving away government jobs to ‘outsiders’ despite Haryana logging one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, the Manohar Lal Khattar government has decided that 20 percent questions in its police recruitment examination will be about the state.
On 30 October, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar approved a proposal in this regard moved by the state’s home department, paving the way for its inclusion in the agenda for the next cabinet meeting.
Confirming the development, state Home and Health Minister Anil Vij, who had brought the proposal, told ThePrint Thursday, “It will be included in the agenda items for approval from the cabinet in its next meeting and it will be notified once approved.”
Even as he admitted that a number of candidates from other states have been getting government jobs in Haryana, Vij hastened to add that these ‘outsiders’ belong to the country and they have the right to be selected on merit.
He said, “The rationale behind this proposed amendment is that those who wish to join government jobs in Haryana must have a basic knowledge of the state, its social structure, administrative setup, politics, and so on. Haryana has a rich history. The battle of Mahabharata was fought here. Lord Krishna delivered the essence of Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna in Haryana….”
The Congress has been accusing the government of giving away government jobs to outsiders. Addressing a press conference at the official residence of his father Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Chandigarh, Leader of Opposition in Haryana assembly, Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda had said last month that the unemployed youth of Haryana were being deprived of government jobs under a “conspiracy” of the BJP-JJP government in the state.
Speaking to mediapersons, Deepender Hooda alleged that while the government talked about giving 75 percent reservation to local people in private jobs, it was actually following a policy of recruiting outsiders in 75 percent of government jobs.
Meanwhile, recruitment activists say the government move is not enough. Recruitment activist Shweta Dhull, who has been taking on the state government over alleged anomalies in the recruitment process, said she has been rooting for steps to ensure that local youth get most jobs in the state.
“Every state takes measures to ensure jobs for its own youth. The states with their own language have a full-fledged exam in it (recruitment exams). They also have a condition that the candidates must have studied the language up to matriculation level. Some states in the North as well as the Northeast have domicile as a condition. The move to have 20 percent questions on the state is in fact too little and too late,” she said to ThePrint Thursday.
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‘Govt conspiracy,’ says Congress
Citing some examples to substantiate his allegation, Deepender Hooda said that for the 600 posts of Agriculture Development Officers (ADO) in the agriculture department in July this year, only 57 candidates passed the written exam and were called for an interview by the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC). Out of these, 50 were selected. But of the 23 candidates selected under the general category, 16 were from outside Haryana.
He added that in 2019, for the recruitment of Sub Divisional Engineers in the power utilities, 90 candidates were selected against 99 posts. But 77 of these were from outside Haryana.
He claimed that while in other states, registration with the state council was mandatory for posts of staff nurse and veterinary surgeons, that was not the case in Haryana. As a result, youth from outside are also getting recruited as staff nurses and veterinary surgeons in the state, taking away the opportunity from local residents.
Dhull said the government should have a system in place to ensure that youth from the state were selected for all types of government jobs, and not just for the Haryana Police.
“Sometime back, I gave a memorandum to the government demanding 50 percent questions on Haryana in the entrance tests for Group B, C and D posts and a full paper on Haryana for those aspiring to join Group A (senior officers) jobs, particularly the Haryana Civil Services jobs,” she said. Group B are also officers notified in the gazette but are of junior level, Group C are officials such as clerks and accountants while Group D are workers such as peons, chowkidars, gardeners.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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