SHILLONG, Nov 21: Over 20,000 candidates applied for recruitment into four to five vacant posts in the state government.
This startling ratio, highlighting how bad the problem of unemployment in Meghalaya is, came to the fore when the leaders of the Federation of Khasi Jaintia Garo People (FKJGP) met Meghalaya Public Service Commission (MPSC) chairman Paul Reader Marwein on Monday.
When they stressed on the need to speed up the process of recruitment into the vacant posts across departments, Marwein said the delay was because the state government received applications from more than 20,000 people for recruitment into four or five vacant posts.
The FKJGP leaders suggested that the government can set up an Information Technology cell to facilitate the process of online submission of applications.
FKJGP president Dundee Cliff Khongsit told reporters the present system of asking the applicants to submit their applications to the MPSC office in person delayed the entire exercise.
The FKJGP leaders suggested to the MPSC chairman that there should be video recording of interviews as this will satisfy candidates if they are unhappy with the results.
According to Khongsit, the MPSC chairman assured to examine the suggestion for transparency in the recruitment process.
The delay in filling up the posts since 2019 was also caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the FKJGP president said. The MPSC chairman said the Commission had no other option but to put the recruitment process on hold in view of the Covid-induced SOPs, he added.
Khongsit said Marwein also told them that the Commission had in February-March this year started speeding up the process of conducting written test and interviews.
“He (MPSC chairman) told us that the Commission could not move forward after the High Court had asked the state government to put in place roster system,” the FKJGP president said.
He said the Commission is waiting for the various departments to indicate the number of vacant posts as per the roster system approved by the Cabinet for the implementation of the reservation policy in the state.
The FKJGP leaders had raised the issue of alleged favouritism and the lack of transparency in the recruitment process but the MPSC chairman dismissed the allegations outright.
Meanwhile, he slammed Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma for the state government’s failure in coming up with the State Employment Policy.
“We feel the Chief Minister is shying away from his responsibility. The policy which we are demanding was to ensure that the state has a say in recruitment in the private sectors,” Khongsit said.
He pointed out that the Industrial Policy of 2007 had a clause that the manufacturing industries operating in the state should reserve 80% of the unskilled jobs for the local indigenous youth. “We are not sure if the manufacturing companies have fulfilled this condition. Private banks and telecom companies do not come under the purview of the Industrial Policy. We need a state employment policy to cover the various sectors,” he added.
