Relief in IB jobs for Gujarat riot victims' children

In a move that might spark controversy, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has given an age relaxation of five years to children of Gujarat riot victims’ interested in applying for a “security assistant” post, which is a class C job.

The last date for applying was February 17, a recruitment advertisement issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs said.

Though the upper age limit was 27 years for general category candidates, it was relaxed for “children & dependents of victims of communal riots of 2002 in Gujarat as per government instructions in this regard issued from time to time”. It is learnt that a similar exercise was carried out for recruitment to a paramilitary force. Age relaxation is five years for SC/STs and three years for OBC candidates, up to 40 years for the IB’s own candidates who have rendered three years of continuous service and for ex-servicemen and candidates domiciled in Jammu & Kashmir from January1,1980 to December 31, 1989. The Home Ministry invited online applications for 532 security assistants (executive) through an advertisement on January 18. 

A government officer, however, did not find the move unusual, arguing that a similar attempt was made by paramilitary forces like the CRPF, CISF, ITBP and the BSF.

Another officer said since the advertisement was recent, the MHA should have also given the same relaxation to dependents of the Muzaffarnagar riot victims. 

The candidates will have to take an objective test on general knowledge, current awareness, aptitude, reasoning, general arithmetic and English of 100 marks.

Successful candidates will have to serve at SIB offices in Delhi, Chandigarh, Itanagar, Dibrugarh, Imphal, Agartala, Ahmadabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Srinagar, Varanasi, Shimla and Trivandrum.