Political rhetoric regarding paper leak and government recruitment has intensified in Himachal Pradesh. After Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu raised the issue of investigation into the paper leak cases that came to light during the tenure of the previous BJP government, former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur has hit back. Jairam Thakur raised questions on the government’s failure to provide employment to the youth and transparency in the recruitment process.
Jairam Thakur said that the Chief Minister is claiming that the paper was not leaked during the tenure of the present government, but the real question is how many big recruitment examinations the government has conducted so far. He alleged that claiming there were no paper leaks due to the small number of recruitment exams was not an achievement.
Giving the example of recruitment of pre-nursery teachers, he raised questions on the government’s policy. According to Jairam Thakur, there was a provision of funds from the Central Government for this recruitment, but the process was stopped after controversy and protests. He claims that this also affected the education of small children and many teachers had to spend money from their own pockets to run the system.
The former Chief Minister also cornered the present government regarding the outsourced recruitment system. He alleged that outsourced companies were used for the recruitment of medical officers and nurses and questions were also raised in the court regarding this arrangement.
Jai Ram Thakur alleged that funds from Central Government schemes are used for these appointments in the health sector, yet controversies arose in the state regarding the recruitment process. He also raised questions on the statements of the government ministers, in which they allegedly claimed to provide jobs to the people of their assembly constituencies.
Jairam Thakur also cornered the government regarding the recent police recruitment process. He claimed that some candidates appearing in the examination had made allegations of cheating or irregularities on a large scale. According to him, during the police action, some people were arrested for allegedly buying and selling papers and during the investigation, records related to cash and transactions also came to light.
The former Chief Minister alleged that despite such serious allegations, the government did not show the required seriousness in pursuing the case and the investigation was stopped. Referring to the police recruitment examination held during his tenure, Jai Ram Thakur said that his government had immediately registered a case when information about the paper leak came to light.
Jairam Thakur claimed that an SIT was formed to investigate and considering the seriousness of the case, a CBI investigation was also recommended. He said that at that time it was decided to cancel the examination and conduct a new written examination. He also claimed to provide relief in bus fare to the candidates to appear in the examination again and complete the recruitment process within the stipulated time.
According to Jairam Thakur, after the change of government, CBI completed the investigation of this case. He claimed that the investigation had revealed the role of some police officers and action was recommended against them. He alleged that this report remained pending for a long time during the present government. Jairam Thakur said that later after the report became public, questions were raised on the functioning of the government. However, the government’s stand in this matter and the official position of the related investigation report will be separately important.
Debate on government jobs figures also
Putting forward the data of the number of government employees, the Leader of Opposition said that in the year 2022, there were more than 1.90 lakh permanent employees in Himachal Pradesh. He claimed that at present this number has come down to around 1.75 lakh. Based on this data, he alleged that the government’s employment policy is becoming more dependent on outsourced system instead of providing permanent government jobs to the youth.
Issues like paper leak, outsourced recruitment, number of government jobs and transparency of recruitment examinations are at the center of constant discussion in Himachal politics. The rhetoric on this issue between Chief Minister Sukhu and Jairam Thakur is likely to intensify in the coming days. At present, Jai Ram Thakur has asked the government to focus on ensuring regular and transparent recruitment process for the youth instead of considering only the absence of paper leakage as an achievement.