It’s raining jobs ahead of elections

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 20

Ahead of this year’s parliamentary and Assembly elections, it’s raining jobs in Haryana. The Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) has declared the results of the exam conducted for 18,218 Class IV posts, for which a whopping 17 lakh persons had applied. 

The results of the examination for Class IV posts, which include jobs of peon, beldar, animal attendant, helper and gardener, were declared in a record period of two months. “The recruitment is the first selection drive under the Haryana Group D Employees (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2018, which aims at putting in place a transparent mechanism in place for the Class IV appointments,” said Chief Minister’s Media Adviser Rajiv Jain.

Under the new selection criteria, there was a written test of 90 marks while the socio-economic criteria accounted for 10 marks. The candidates not having any immediate family member in government service were given weightage. 

Earlier, nepotism and ad hocism ruled the roost in the Class IV recruitments. In the absence of any institutional mechanism, the Class IV recruitment depended purely on the discretion of the government of the day with merit taking a backseat. 

The appeal of government jobs can be gauged from the fact that more than 17 lakh candidates, including graduates, postgraduates and persons having technical qualifications, had applied for the posts though the minimum qualification was matriculation. A Class IV employee gets around Rs 20,000 salary per month.

Meanwhile, the results for the 6,142 posts in general category, 3,534 posts in Scheduled Caste (SC) category, 2,629 posts in Backward Class (A) and 1,657 posts in Backward Class (B) were declared by the commission.

The result of the other categories declared included ex-servicemen (general) — 1,359, ex-servicemen (SC) — 416, ex-servicemen (BC-B) —  527, sportspersons (general) —  811, sportspersons (SC) —  295, sportspersons (BC-A) — 280, sportspersons (BC-B) — 132, visually handicapped (145) and orthopaedically handicapped (208).

17 lakh had applied  

• More than 17 lakh candidates applied for the 18,218 Class IV posts which carry monthly emoluments of around Rs 20,000 
• This is the first recruitment by the Haryana Staff Selection Commission for Class IV posts under the new law aimed at instilling transparency in job recruitment
• Earlier, the Class IV recruitment depended purely on the discretion of the government of the day with merit taking a backseat