Aging dreams: With no Group-1 notification for 11 yrs, TSPSC aspirants become ineligible
For four of the uniform services under Group 1 – deputy superintendent of police (civil), deputy superintendent of jails, divisional forest officer, and assistant prohibition and Excise superintendent – the upper age limit for applicants from the general category is between 26-28 years.
By Nimisha S Pradeep Published on 18 Feb 2022 3:22 AM GMT
Hyderabad: For the last 11 years, there has been no Group 1 notification for the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) jobs in Telangana. Thousands of aspirants across the state are unemployed, through no fault of theirs. What's even more worrying is that for four of the uniform services under Group 1 – deputy superintendent of police (civil), deputy superintendent of jails, divisional forest officer, and assistant prohibition and Excise superintendent – the upper age limit for applicants from the general category is between 26-28 years. And many aspirants have crossed the age limit.
In 2014, Vivek Reddy, a Group 1 applicant from Nizamabad, was 21 years old when he first thought of applying for TSPSC. As per the last Group 1 notification, under the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh, he was eligible for all the 19 posts mentioned under Group 1. Eight years later, his options have reduced because of the upper age limit for some of these posts.
"I have lost patience. I am frustrated explaining to everybody the reason why I am unemployed," says Vivek. The hopelessness that stares at him has been giving him sleepless nights for years, he adds.
Vivek graduated in 2014. Since then, he has been preparing for TSPSC. "I worked for a year. But then I felt that since many people appear for the TSPSC, I need to prepare harder to clear it. So, I quit my job after a year to fully concentrate on my preparation. But the recruitment notice has not been issued by the government since then," explains Vivek.
Sravan Reddy, a 30-year-old from Suryapet, is in a similar plight. He has also been waiting for the Group 1 notification for the past eight years. Besides preparing for the TSPSC Group 1 service exam, Sravan has been tutoring class X students for the last couple of years. "My parents practice agriculture but they want to see me in a government job," says Sravan.
Another issue that is troubling these aspirants is marriage pressure from their families. "My parents are urging me to get married but I want to secure a job first and then get married," says Sravan.
Vivek also faces a similar issue at home. "I keep pushing. I tell them elections are coming up in 2023, so wait a little longer for marriage," laughs Vivek.
Another aspirant, Sandeep Reddy from Suryapet, says the EWS and some other communities have an age relaxation but the applicants from the general category do not have that option even for posts where the upper age limit is very low.
What does the UPSC say?
One of the arguments that the aspirants cite is the higher upper age limit that the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) lays down.
According to the 2022 guidelines by UPSC, the minimum age is 21 years and the maximum is 32 years. The guidelines read, "A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 32 years on 1st August 2022, i.e, he must have been born not earlier than 2nd August 1990 and not later than 1st August 2001."
The guidelines also state that the upper age limit is relaxable for five years for applicants belonging to Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) category and for three years for applicants belonging to other backward classes.
State-wise comparison
Another argument that the aspirants make is that in most of the other states, especially in all other south Indian states except Andhra Pradesh, the upper age limit for uniform services under Group 1 posts for applicants from the general category is higher. In Andhra Pradesh, it is the same as in Telangana with the upper age limit ranging between 26-28 years for uniform services in Group 1.
In Tamil Nadu, it is 32 years and in Karnataka, it is 35 years. In Kerala, where there is no direct recruitment for the deputy superintendent of police, the upper age limit for other uniform services is 32 years.
The aspirants demand a one-time relaxation in the upper age limit. "We are asking for an increase in the age limit to 30 for the general category to all the uniform posts in Group 1. We are requesting for a one-time relief as it would enable thousands of students to realize their opportunities in the new state," says Chandhra Sekhar Reddy, another DySP aspirant from Hyderabad. Chandhra is 31 years old and has also crossed the upper age limit of 28 for the DySP post.
"Whenever we raise our voice on the issue, the government calms us down by saying that everything is ready and the GO will be released in three-four months. I feel frustrated and hopeless after hearing it for the past three-four years," says Vivek.
