Over 16 lakh applications filed after Rajasthan Govt notifies recruitment of 5,483 police constables

As many as 16.80 lakh applications have been received after Rajasthan Government notified the recruitment of 5,483 police constables. The Additional Director General of Police in charge of the recruitment, Biju George says that processing so many applications was taking up a long time even before they can be invited for a written test.

“For every single constable’s post, there are 309 applicants,” he points out, adding that most of the applications have come in from Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur.

The Congress Government in the state has been struggling with the high unemployment in the state, stays granted by courts and red tapes to fill up vacancies. But chief minister Ashok Gehlot is confident that his government would be able to generate 50,000 jobs in the government this year.

“ Advertisements have been issued for 45,000 jobs and 34,000 appointments have already been made,”says the CM before adding that the state government has also issued work orders worth INR 20,372 Crores for setting up a refinery in Barmer. The previous BJP government had withheld the sanction, he points out.

The state’s health minister Raghu Sharma claims that Rajasthan Medical Science University has completed the process of appointing 737 MBBS doctors and regularising 24,303 contractual employees in the health department. The state government has also approved the appointment of 1688 lab technicians and 1088 radiographers in government hospitals.

A large number of appointments in the government, say government sources, were held up because of injunctions given by courts. The previous BJP Government had conducted examinations for the appointment of clerks in April, 2018. As many as 15 lakh people (1.5 million) had appeared then for 12,419 jobs but the process was held up in courts.

Dr B.L. Jatawat, chairman of the Subordinate Selection Board, told NH that hurdles have now been overcome, and the Board has finalised recommendation for appointing 11,322 people as junior assistants.

State government sources also claimed that 31,000 second-grade teachers and 3000 posts of lecturers in schools are being processed and the eligibility test is likely to be held later this year. In higher education, 2,366 vacant posts and 932 posts in the department have been forwarded to the state public service commission.

There is, however, widespread scepticism to Industries minister Prasadi Lal Meena’s proposal that even in the private sector, 75% of the jobs be reserved for sons of the soil. While the minister cites the example of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and other states, the bureaucrats believe it would run into a wall. Not only are many of these appointments made through pan-India recruitment but this would also attract Constitutional provisions and affect a large number of migrant workers from states like Bihar and West Bengal.