Telangana government not to convert women quota

Hyderabad: Converting women’s quota jobs in the government sector to the general quota in view of not having enough women candidates will no longer be possible in Telangana State. The Telangana government has drafted fresh norms for strictly implementing the 33 per cent women’s quota.

Accordingly, the spill over vacancies in the women’s quota in any recruitment will be carried forward to the next recruitment but will not be converted to general quota, as is being done at present. About 2,500 jobs in various departments in the women’s quota were converted into general quota in the undivided state.

The Telangana government had constituted a high-level committee comprising senior IAS officers to frame new service rules for government employees which recommended implementation of women’s quota strictly henceforth even if it meant lowering qualifying marks in recruitment exams marginally.

“Several women candidates could not make it to the final selection list as they fell below the cut-off by a fraction of marks. Such women candidates can be considered for final selection by lowering the cut-off marks instead of converting women’s quota jobs to other categories. There is already a lower representation of women staff in some departments due to conversion,” said a senior member of the committee.