The new zonal system of Telangana which was notified on August 29 by the Ministry of Home Affairs paved way for predominant recruitment of local people in all the cadres - district, zonal and multi-zonal with local reservation enhanced to 95% uniformly in all the cadres.
“Any new recruitment from today will be as per the new zonal system comprising seven zones and two multi-zones. The biggest take away from the new zonal system is ensuring 95% of jobs to local candidates,” say officials and representatives of employees’ organisations.
The new zonal system will also address the imbalance in providing employment opportunities in the government sector to people of backward areas. It will ensure equity of employment opportunities for people in every district to vie for government posts as district becomes the unit for recruitment, they said.
Old zonal system
In the old zonal system, for instance if 20 posts were notified in Adilabad district for recruitment under any category, then candidates from Nirmal and Mancherial would bag majority of the posts while the youth in the remote areas of the district were left out. They could not compete with candidates in areas with better infrastructure and exposure. Following reorganisation of districts from erstwhile 10 into 31, the 20 posts would now be distributed to all the districts carved out of Adilabad equally, explained Mr. Deviprasad, Chairman, Beverages Corporation, and coordinator for the consultancy committee on the new zonal system, and ex-TNGO chairman.
New system
The new zonal system ensures that even higher-level posts would go to local people of Telangana and not to outsiders.
In the earlier zonal system, for instance MPDO posts were under Group I and placed under State cadre.
As recruitment was done at the State level, outsiders to a district or zone would still be posted as MPDOs. Now as State cadre posts would be filled through promotions, local Telangana people would get higher level posts. Some zonal posts were also brought under district cadre.
The way local candidature is determined under the new zonal system also will help native people.
Earlier, wherever a student studied for maximum of four years from Class IV to Xth would be regarded as local candidate of that district. In the new zonal system, maximum four years of stay in a place from Class I to VII will be the criterion to determine local status.
Panchayat Secretary posts
The first recruitment under the new zonal system will be to 9,500 posts of Panchayat Secretaries and each of 30 districts would get at least 300 posts. Notification is expected to be issued in a day or two. The long pending DSC recruitment for teachers will be now taken up once district-wise vacancies are identified.
The other categories of posts to be filled are Village Revenue Officers, Junior Assistants, ANMs among others.
Most of the departments have identified district cadre posts though some clarity is needed to define some zonal and multi-zonal posts, said an official.
There will be clarity when the guidelines are issued, he said.
