Haryana's job scams

The recruitment process of the Haryana Government lies in tatters. All kinds of exams for jobs have been under the scanner over the past couple of decades, irrespective of which government has been in power in the state. The surreptitious network of agents, government officials and leaders seems to be deeply embedded in an ecosystem that thrives on the exchange of lakhs of rupees for jobs. Rather, the price for each post is well known in the ‘job market’. A cleaning of the Augean stables was anticipated when the BJP government swept the polls in 2014, riding on, among other promises, the job slogan of ‘Bina Parchi, Bina Kharchi’. A direct attack at the previous INLD and Congress regimes that were smeared by jobs-for-cash scandals and nepotism, the pledge infused the constituents with hope that, at last, merit would be honoured. The sentencing of former chief minister OP Chautala, found guilty of corruption in the primary teachers’ recruitment during his reign, lent weight to the hope. Alas! It was not to be.

The BJP-led government, too, is seeing its record sheet tainted with malpractices. The busting of the scam following a complaint by an aspiring candidate who was allegedly approached for appointment as dental surgeon is the latest one. With over Rs 1 crore seized, under the Vigilance Bureau scanner for the offence till now are some touts and HCS officer Anil Nagar, deputy secretary in the Haryana Public Service Commission. Consequently, the recent HCS exam has also come under a cloud. Earlier, the police recruitment test was cancelled following paper leak.

Even as the due process of law is under way, the young candidates are suffering as their fate hangs in the balance. The wait is painful for many meritorious people with financial constraints or domestic responsibilities to fulfil or age going against them. The efforts to rein in the abhorrent goings-on lack the sting or strength required. For a state having an unemployment rate of 30 per cent, a more foolproof method that instills the fear of the certainty of law catching up at once needs to be devised.