Amid State-wide protests against Agnipath scheme, a new recruitment scheme by the Central government for defence forces, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal on Tuesday announced to give "guaranteed" employment to Agniveers in the State government after four years of service from the forces
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Mr. Lal, in a tweet early morning, said: "I announce to provide guaranteed jobs in State government to Agniveers after four-year service to the nation under 'Agnipath' scheme."
His announcement evoked sharp reactions from the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party as the leaders of the respective parties referring to a large number of vacancies in various departments across State.
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Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda, in a tweet, said the announcement by the Chief Minister was an “empty promise” and sought to know how many ex-servicemen were given employed by the State government over the past eight years of rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He added that more than one lakh positions were lying vacant in the State, the recruitment process was rampant with corruption and those responsible for the “highest unemployment rate” in the State were talking about job guarantee.
Senior AAP leader Anurag Dhanda said the Chief Minister must not mislead the youth with the promise of employment after four years when lakhs of young men and women could be given jobs today if the government initiated the process to fill vacancies in various departments, boards, corporations, and universities.
The Chief Minister’s tweet evoked a mixed response from netizens. While a few hailed the announcement, many others demanded that the government must bring legislation to this effect to show its seriousness. Some took a dig at the government for a high unemployment rate in the State and the pending recruitment process for various posts in different departments.
Violent protests had erupted across the state against the new recruitment scheme last week with clashes between the protesters and the police at Palwal, Faridabad and Jind.