As the Centre announced a 10% reservation for the ‘Agniveers’ in the armed forces, a report by The Indian Express stated that the hiring of ex-servicemen in government jobs witnessed a massive shortfall as compared to the vacancies that are reserved for them.
The latest data available with the Directorate General Resettlement highlights that out of the 10 per cent Group C and 20 per cent Group D posts reserved for the ex-servicemen, only 1.29 per cent and 2.66 per cent ex-servicemen were present in the Group C and Group D categories respectively, across 34 of the 77 departments of the Central government.
Numerically, out of the total 10,84,705 Group C employees in these departments, only 19,976 were ex-servicemen. For Group D, the number of ex-servicemen was 8,642 out of the total 3,25,265 employees
The data also showed that despite the 10 per cent quota for ex-servicemen in the direct recruitment up to the level of assistant commandant in Central Armed police forces/Central Para Military Forces, the numbers are relatively low. The ex-servicemen comprised only 0.47% in Group C, 0.87% in Group B, and 2.20% in Group A out of the total strength of the CAPFs and CPMFs.
There is a 14.5% quota in Group C posts and a 24.5% quota in Group D posts for the ex-servicemen in the Central PSUs. However, the DGR data shows that the ex-servicemen constituted only 1.15% and 0.3% of the Group C and Group D strength respectively. The report was based on the data received from 94 of the 170 CPSUs.
In Public Sector Banks, the reservation for ex-servicemen is fixed at 14.5% for direct recruitment in Group C and 24.5% in Group D. As against this, in actual figures, ex-servicemen accounted for 9.10% (24,733 of the total 2,71,741) in Group C and 21.34% (22,839 of the total 1,07,009) in Group D across 13 PSBs.
According to the publication, DGR sources stated several reasons for this shortfall. “Adequate numbers of ESM are not applying for these posts, adequate numbers of ESM are not qualifying for these posts, and DoPT (Department of Personnel & Training) orders regarding relaxed standards of selection are not being implemented by organizations,” people in the know told the publication.
The issue has been raised several times in the past. In the latest meeting held on June 2, the Directorate General Resettlement stated that “efforts should be made to increase the representation of ESM (ex-servicemen)” in government departments.