The Cabinet’s decision of providing relaxation in age cut off for Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) aspirants will not only help the Government achieve its recruitment targets, but also provide an opportunity to working professionals to switch from jobs in the private sector to the public sector, academicians said on Thursday.
“At a time when sustaining jobs in the private sector is becoming more challenging than ever, leaving employees with limited scope of growth, the government’s decision comes as an opportunity for those working professionals who want to leave their corporate jobs and join a government job,” said Dr. VP Sharan, a city-based academician and former Vice Chancellor of Ranchi University.
The Cabinet on Wednesday decided that general category aspirants, who were either 35-year-old or younger on August 1, 2016 will be eligible to appear for the upcoming seventh JPSC exams. Candidates belonging to the Scheduled Tribe or Scheduled Caste communities will get additional relaxations on the age cut off as per the rules.
Sharan said that the Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on people working in the private sector with layoffs and salary cuts announced in almost all corporate houses. “Even the ones who have retained their jobs are overworked and underpaid. Most of the working professionals dealing with such issues are around the age of 40 years, and the government’s decision will now give them a chance to appear for the exams and make a career change,” he said.
As per the Cabinet decision, even a 40-year-old general category candidate was eligible to give a shot at the civil services examinations in Jharkhand. Usually, the cut-off age for appearing in JPSC exams is 35 years.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren has said on a number of occasions that year 2021 will be a year of recruitment in Jharkhand. Soon after coming to power, he said that his government will prioritise filling up the vacant positions across the state and provide employment to the youth.
However, some academicians are of the opinion that the relaxations in the age cut-off may not benefit job-seekers to a large extent as there were very few vacancies in the state in comparison to the enormous number of qualified yet unemployed youths.
“Around 3 lakh to 4 lakh candidates will appear for the exams, and not even 10 per cent of them will get jobs through JPSC,” said renowned economist and former Vice Chancellor of Vinoba Bhave University, Dr. Ramesh Sharan.
He, however, accepted that the relaxations provided by the government will benefit the candidates who have been preparing for civil services for years, but could not crack the exams.
The Jharkhand Cabinet on Wednesday also decided to give additional relaxations to ST/SC candidates appearing for the JPSC exams by doing away with the clause that the cut off marks for ST/SC candidates cannot be less than 8 per cent from the cut off for general candidates. The decision is aimed at filling up the 15 per cent quota for reserved category candidates.