Maharashtra: Government job aspirants to agitate over no recruitments for 3 yrs

Aggrieved MPSC aspirants have put up banners announcing today's agitation

Aggrieved by the fact that it has been three years since recruitments have taken place for various government posts, more than 1,000 aspirants have decided to stage a statewide demonstration on Monday. Protests will be held in Pune, Sangli, Nagpur, Nanded, Buldana, Ahmednagar and Nashik districts in Maharashtra. The agitation is also being backed by youths belonging to political parties.

Azim Sheikh, an aspirant

Even as nearly 25 lakh government job aspirants in the state opt to wait for the competitive service examination conducted by Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC), the government is not even advertising the countable posts. Instead, most of the posts are being filled on a contractual basis.

Aspirants vent anger
Azim Shaikh, who hails from Beed, has been preparing for the examination for the past couple of years. Shaikh said, "For the past two years I have been struggling to join the police department. I want to be a police sub-inspector (PSI). Even though nearly 3,000 posts of PSI are lying vacant, the government has not published a single advertisement in the past two years."

An aspirant from Otur village Manish Rawate (26) said, "Since the government has come to power, no advertisements have been released regarding STI, PSI and revenue department posts. We have spent so much money to prepare for the competitive examination yet there has been no result."

Vijaysinh Chaudhari, member of National Student Association of India said, "At present nearly 90,000 posts are lying vacant, but no recruitments are being done. The government is just playing with the future of the candidates. In this way it is also losing out on the best brains."

‘Not our fault'
MPSC chairman VN More said, "We conduct the recruitment process as per the government's requirement. We do not decide the number of candidates to be recruited. The government tells us about its requirement and we release advertisements. The exam is conducted thereafter. In 2012 and 2013, we had recruited nearly 1,000 sub-inspectors, but since then no recruitments have taken place. I am aware that an agitation is going to take place, but we are not at fault. The grievances that are being raised by students are against the government policy." He added, "Recruitments for the revenue department are being done from time to time."

What the aspirants are demanding
>> Instead of hiring on a contractual basis, recruit candidates via MPSC exam.
>> Age bar of 30 years has been increased to 33, then recruitment needs to reflect the demand accordingly.
>> Bring transparency in the process to ensure fair treatment of candidates.
>> Ensure yearly recruitment to prevent backlog

25L
Aspirants waiting to appear for the MPSC exams

90k
Posts left vacant yearly due to retirements

3k
Police sub-inspector posts lying vacant in the state

1k
Police sub-inspectors recruited in 2012 and 2013