Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s efforts to secure the Centre’s approval for the Telangana state government’s new zonal system has finally paid off with the union home ministry issuing a Gazette Notification on Thursday. And now, the TS government has lined up recruitment exams to fill over 60,000 vacant posts and the Centre's approval will speed up the recruitment process and ensure jobs for locals. The TS government has lined up recruitment exams to fill over 60,000 vacant posts and the Centre’s approval will speed up the recruitment process and ensure jobs for locals.
Mr Rao, who is gearing up for early Assembly polls, got a shot in the arm with the Centre’s approval. The TRS has already devised a strategy to make this issue its major poll plank to lure students, youth and the unemployed who are upset with the delay in releasing recruitment notifications for the past four years of TRS rule, back to its fold. Mr Rao wants to highlight this as the major achievement of the TRS government in the massive public meeting to be held on September 2 on the city's outskirts to release its four-year progress report.
The tagline for Telangana statehood agitation was ‘water, funds and jobs’ and by securing 95 per cent quota for locals, Mr Rao wants to send a message that only the TRS has the commitment towards fulfilling the aspirations of Telangana people. In the earlier zonal system, non-locals, especially those who are from Seemandhra region who migrated to Hyderabad for higher studies and became locals of Telangana by virtue of their seven-year stay here, had the opportunity to secure government jobs.
In the new zonal system, only school education from Class I to VII, will be considered, making such candidates ineligible to compete for jobs. Mr Rao has done a thorough exercise to devise the new zonal system since 2015 by conducting a series of meetings with employees associations and officials. Finally, he drafted the new zonal system in May 2018 and got it approved by the cabinet the same month and referred it to the Centre for its approval.
He met PM Modi and union home minister Rajnath Singh thrice since June to expedite the approval process and finally managed to get it done within three months, which is a record of sorts for the TRS government. During his recent visit to Delhi, the CM met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and convinced him to give approval though the Centre objected to giving 95 per cent quota for locals in government jobs and wanted the state government to bring down the quota to 85 per cent.
However, Mr Rao explained to Mr Modi that the Telangana statehood agitation was all about jobs for locals besides water and funds and convinced him to approve the new zonal system as it was. The PM then cleared the Centre's approval and sent the proposal to the President for his signature.
