Unemployment remains a serious challenge in the country, and recruitment examinations are often plagued by irregularities. Frequent cancellations and delays not only disrupt the process but also cause many aspirants to cross the age limit for government jobs, leaving them frustrated and demoralized. Young people preparing diligently for these exams often end up paying the price for systemic failures. Addressing these issues requires far-reaching reforms in the employment sector, and state governments are best placed to bring about such transformative changes through effective policy interventions that can reshape the economic and social landscape.
In Uttar Pradesh, one of the notable achievements of the Yogi Adityanath government has been the significant reduction in the unemployment rate. According to government data, unemployment in the state, which had once touched 19 percent, has now declined to 2.4 percent. This improvement is attributed to focused employment policies, increased investment, and robust skill development initiatives implemented across the state. Additionally, the state’s GCC policy is expected to generate over 200,000 new jobs by 2025.
Against this backdrop, the Yogi Adityanath government has taken a major step to support candidates who had earlier become ineligible for UP Police recruitment due to age restrictions. The state government has announced a one-time age relaxation of three years for all categories in the police recruitment process. The Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment and Promotion Board has also begun the online application process for 32,679 posts under direct recruitment for Constable Civil Police and equivalent positions, offering renewed hope to thousands of aspirants.
The issue of age relaxation had become quite complex. Even the ruling BJP and its alliance partners were demanding age relaxation. In fact, recruitment processes have been consistently delayed over the past few years. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, examination procedures, and administrative reasons, many recruitments could not be completed on time. This has most severely affected young people who had been engaged in physical training, written exam preparation, and mental preparation for years. Several BJP MLAs strongly raised this issue with the government. Specifically, a BJP MLA from Deoria had written to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath demanding that age relaxation also be given to general category youth. These young people have been excluded from recruitment simply because they have exceeded the age limit.
These are the young people who had been preparing for police recruitment for years. They did everything – running, physical training, and studying – but the delay in recruitment deprived them of their opportunity. They described this as extremely unfortunate not only for the young people but also for their families and demanded an age relaxation of at least 3 years on humanitarian grounds, which the government has now accepted. Opposition parties like the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh were also demanding an increase in the age limit. Thousands of young people were also raising their voices on social media platforms. Their argument was that keeping the age limit for the general category at 18 to 22 years is unfair. Students who have been preparing for years are now becoming overage. They only got an opportunity in 2023 after 2019. In the previous recruitment of 60,000 constables, candidates were given age relaxation.
One candidate argued, “The age limit for Bihar Constable is 18-25 years… for MP Constable it’s 18-33 years… for Haryana Constable it’s 18-25 years… but in UP Police, a young person is considered old at the age of 22…” Another candidate wrote, “There is only one plea: Grant a 3-year age relaxation in the UP Constable PAC recruitment!! In UP Police recruitment, general category students will be overage at 22 years, while the age limit for the reserved category goes up to 27 years. Was only the reserved category affected by Covid?” One person wrote, “Due to the lack of PAC recruitment for the last 7 years, the future of thousands of candidates is in limbo. The children have only one demand – a 3-year age relaxation in the UP Constable PAC recruitment!” Finally, the Yogi government has provided age limit relaxation to all categories.
The Yogi government has also abolished the negative marking system in the examination for constable and jail warden recruitment. Previously, there was a system of deducting marks for incorrect answers in the recruitment examination for constable and jail warden positions. In the constable recruitment exam, two marks were awarded for each correct answer, and half a mark was deducted for each incorrect answer. People in the country and society seriously abide by the law. This credit goes to the police. Without the police, the security of the country and the state’s administration cannot even be imagined.
The police constantly monitor that people in society properly follow law and order and discipline. The credit for improving the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh goes to the Uttar Pradesh Police. The way the UP Police have cracked down on criminals, strongmen, and gangsters has led anti-social elements to surrender themselves to the police. In previous governments, there were allegations of politicization of the police, and police stations appeared to be held hostage by specific castes. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has given a free hand to the Uttar Pradesh Police, which has yielded positive results. The new police recruitment will provide opportunities for young people. This will further strengthen the police force with new energy and enthusiasm.
