Accusing Haryana government of ‘cheating youth’ by recruiting them on contract through Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam (HKRN), former chief minister and leader of opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Tuesday asked the BJP-JJP coalition government to employ youth on permanent basis and stop contract-based recruitment. Stating that the state government is promoting contract system through the HKRN, Hooda said this scheme has been designed to exploit educated youth by hiring them on low wages.

“The Congress government had started the abolition of contract system, but instead of taking it forward the BJP-JJP government has opened their own contract shop,” Hooda, a former two-term chief minister said in a statement.

Hooda said that there is no transparency in the recruitment procedure being followed by the HKRN. He said that many questions are being raised regarding the recruitment of TGT and PGT on contract and “without following any procedure.”

“By doing this, the government is also ending permanent jobs and reservation for dalits and backwards in service as there is no provision of any kind of reservation in recruitments done through the kaushal nigam,” he said, asking the state government to stop the contract system.

“At present, 182,000 posts are vacant in different departments of Haryana. At 30.6%, Haryana’s youth is facing the highest unemployment rate in the country. Haryana has been at the top in terms of unemployment for many years, but the government is not ready to provide employment to the youth,” he said, adding some recruitment drives of the current government are pending in the court due to faulty policies.