Following the recent recruitment of nearly 53,000 fourth-class employees in Rajasthan, resentment among the selected candidates has started spilling out into the open. On Monday, fourth-class employees selected under the Social Welfare Department staged a protest demonstration in Jaipur. The workers accuse the department of assigning them the duties of cooks and watchmen in offices rather than standard clerical or office support tasks following their postings.
Hostel Kitchens and Guard Duties Assigned
The Social Welfare Department has provided postings to approximately 900 selected fourth-class employees. The protesting staff stated that a large number of these individuals have been deployed in the department's student hostels, where they are being made to cook meals for hundreds of students and handle night watchman duties. The employees pointed out that they were never informed about this nature of work during the recruitment process.
Discontent Among Highly Educated Candidates
A significant portion of the protesting workforce consists of highly qualified youth. This group includes engineering graduates with BTech degrees, along with MSc and PhD holders. Some candidates accepted fourth-class positions after failing to secure regular government teaching jobs despite completing their BEd degrees. The workers asserted that they never considered any honest work inferior, but they object to being given responsibilities entirely different from the roles they were recruited for.
The employees argued that according to official rules, the positions of cooks and watchmen are distinct, and formal cooking experience certificates are typically demanded for culinary roles. Therefore, compelling fourth-class employees to regularly perform the duties of a cook is unjustified. The workers have demanded that their designation be revised to 'assistant employee', a standard eight-hour work shift be enforced like other staff members, and they be allocated assistant-level duties inside regular offices instead.
Department Official Responds as Protesters Object
When Amit Sharma, Deputy Director of the Social Welfare Department, was questioned regarding fourth-class employees being deployed as cooks, he maintained that such duties were already included within the broad designation of the recruitment post. However, right in front of the official, the employees strongly objected to this statement. The protesters declared that the administration was providing misleading information and that no such tasks were communicated during recruitment. The workers warned that if their demands are not addressed promptly, they will intensify their agitation.
