Over 1.5L recruited in 5 yrs, recruitments now transparent: CM

Guwahati: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said the state’s recruitment process has become transparent, enabling youths to secure govt jobs purely on merit.Distributing appointment letters to 4,369 candidates selected for Grade IV posts through the Assam Direct Recruitment Examination (ADRE), Sarma said total appointments under the current govt have reached 1,50,033, surpassing the pledge made during the 2021 assembly elections.He urged the new appointees to withdraw their family members’ names from the Orunodoi scheme if they are currently beneficiaries, so that another deserving family can benefit. The state govt provides monthly financial assistance of Rs 1,250 to women, widows, unmarried women and differently-abled persons belonging to economically weaker sections under the Orunodoi scheme.Sarma said the govt is also focusing on promoting entrepreneurship so that Assam’s youth can find employment within the state and contribute to its development.Addressing the gathering, he said the recruitment process initiated through ADRE in 2023 was complex and that maintaining transparency and public trust was a major challenge.He added that earlier each department conducted its own recruitment examinations, often resulting in multiple tests being held on the same day, causing inconvenience to candidates. “With nearly 200–300 examinations being conducted annually, effective monitoring was difficult, leading to allegations of corruption at various levels. Consequently, recruitment processes were frequently stalled due to court interventions, resulting in acute shortages of officers and staff in govt departments,” he said.Referring to the govt’s commitment to provide 1 lakh jobs transparently, Sarma said no previous state govt had appointed more than 15,000–16,000 youth during a five-year term. “To address this, the present govt constituted separate recruitment boards for doctors and engineers and introduced a unified examination system for appointments across departments. New legislation was enacted and two commissions were constituted for recruitment to Grade III and Grade IV posts. Despite multiple challenges, the recruitment process conducted in the first year was completed successfully, he said, adding that even internet connectivity had to be suspended during examinations to ensure fairness and transparency,” he said.Sarma said the credibility of the recruitment process was reflected in 13,79,132 applications received for Grade III and Grade IV posts under ADRE. He said Assam conducted the examination in a single day at multiple centres, including private educational institutions, with centres set up in 28 districts. He said over 9.12 candidates appeared in the examination held on Oct 27 last year.The results of the written exam were declared on March 7 last year. Oral examinations were conducted from June 17 to July 7 last year, and final results were declared on Oct 15.“The entire process was completed in a fully transparent and error-free manner, with no court cases filed. Recruitment based purely on merit and transparency has renewed faith among the youth, encouraging them to focus on studies,” Sarma said.