Karnataka: Over 96,000 govt employees are on contract, data shows

Bengaluru: About one in six government employees is on a contract, jobs data show, and there is pressure on the Siddaramaiah administration to recruit and fill up a staggering 2.84 lakh vacancies, a poll promise made by the ruling Congress. 

The government currently has 5.88 lakh employees of whom 16%, or 96,844, are outsourced, according to data from the department of personnel & administrative reforms (DPAR). 

The department of medical education (15,824) has the highest number of outsourced employees. 

“Only Group D and, to some extent, Group C employees are working on a contract basis, not doctors,” Medical Education Minister Dr Sharan Prakash Patil told DH. “It was a policy decision taken long back by the finance department that Group D jobs can be outsourced.” 

The Congress government could not carry out fresh recruitment for nine months, between November 2024 and August 2025, because of a freeze imposed by the DPAR to finalise internal reservation among Scheduled Castes. The freeze was lifted last week. 

Dr Patil said his department had to hire a few doctors on contract due to the freeze on recruitment. 

The medical education department is followed by revenue (15,376) and health (11,424) in terms of high outsourced employees. 

The government has earmarked Rs 2,273 crore this year towards salaries of outsourced employees. Overall, the government’s salary bill is estimated to touch Rs 85,860 crore in the current fiscal, a 19% jump from last year. 

Poll promise

In its 2023 election manifesto, the Congress had promised to fill up all government vacancies in one year. 

In 2023 and 2024, the government filled up 1,961 vacancies through the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC). In the same period, the government recruited 709 sub-inspectors and 4,880 constables. 

The previous BJP government initiated the recruitment of 15,000 primary school teachers of whom 12,312 reported to work. The Congress government has approved the recruitment of 4,882 primary school teachers in the Kalyana Karnataka region. 

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s Economic Advisor Basavaraj Rayareddi said the government will start recruiting now that the freeze is lifted. “I think at least 50% of the vacancies will be filled up this year. The CM will decide the quantum of recruitment,” he told DH.