A department of the Union government on Thursday announced the results of interviews conducted in August for six posts of Young Professional (YP), a scheme to appoint candidates in contractual positions without following any reservation rules.

The department of science and technology (DST) put out a notice to say that four candidates have been found suitable for appointment as YPs.

Central ministries and departments are continuing to appoint candidates as YPs, a month after the government put on hold similar appointments under Lateral Entry, another scheme recruiting people bypassing the quota policy. These ministries and departments are following the YP scheme formulated by the NITI Aayog five years ago.

The scheme does not provide reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) who are entitled to 15 per cent, 7.5 per cent, 27 per cent and 10 per cent quota in regular and temporary government jobs, respectively. The appointments under the YP scheme are on a contractual basis.

An official in the department of science and technology said that there were no rules to provide reservation for contractual appointments.

“We are following the NITI Aayog policy. There is no reservation provision in contractual positions. These are different from temporary posts. If the NITI Aayog changes its policy, we will follow it as revised,” the official said.

An official of the rural development ministry said departments and autonomous bodies also engage consultants, who are mostly retired government officers, to run various schemes and activities on a contractual basis. In addition, ministries engage data entry operators through an outsourcing agency. In all these types of jobs, there is
no reservation.

The official said graduates from prestigious institutions were recruited as YPs. The YPs are appointed every year with a monthly remuneration of about ₹70,000. The YPs are attached to joint secretaries who assign them work such as data compilation or preparing background notes.

In May, the labour ministry advertised nine positions for YPs. It wanted graduates with two years’ experience to apply.

Retired persons who are appointed as consultants are assigned routine works of the department, such as putting up files on any subject and taking part in review meetings.

Rohtas Bhankhar, a retired government official, said all these appointments should follow the reservation policy.

“In the previous UPA government’s time, there used to be some contractual appointments. But such appointments have increased hugely in the period of the present government. In some offices, nearly half of the employees are contractual,” Bhankhar said.

Separate emails were sent to labour secretary Sumita Dawra, DoPT secretary Vivek Joshi, NITI Aayog CEO B.V.R. Subrahmanyam and DST secretary Abhay Karandikar to understand their perspectives on the reasons for not implementing reservations in
these schemes. Their responses are awaited.