Congress demands regularisation of staff recruited via Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam

Holding a protest in Panchkula on Wednesday (August 19, 2026), Congress party leaders and workers demanded the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government regularise all personnel recruited through the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam, even as they accused the government of favouring the contract system over conducting regular recruitments.

Congress MPs, MLAs and scores of party workers participated in the protest led by former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Haryana Assembly Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

The BJP government was exploiting the youth through the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam, Mr. Hooda said. “We demand that all employees recruited via the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam be regularised in government service and granted equal pay scales, Dearness Allowance, promotion avenues, reservation benefits, and retirement benefits. Also, all future appointments should be made through the regular recruitment processes,” the Congress leader said.

“The government’s primary duty is to conduct regular recruitments, but the BJP government is promoting the contract system by filling even gazetted posts through the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam. This practice is indirectly undermining reservation provisions for Dalits, Backward Classes, and the poor,” Mr. Hooda said.

During the Congress government’s tenure, the number of government posts had been increased to four lakh to provide employment to the maximum number of youths, and ensure better public services for the people, the former CM said. “However, the BJP has reduced this figure to just 2.5 lakh [government posts], effectively making Haryana the unemployment capital of the country,” Mr. Hooda said.

“The Congress will continue its struggle until the government restores the number of posts to four lakh and regularises the skilled workers recruited through the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam. We are not making a new demand, rather, the BJP itself had announced the regularisation of 125,000 skilled contractual workers to garner their votes during the previous Assembly election,” he said.

Haryana ranks first in the country in terms of unemployment, Mr. Hooda said. “Even highly qualified youth are forced to take up Class IV manual labour jobs. Under the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam, contractual personnel are deployed for a period of one year or less. Subsequently, the authorities review their performance, and if they are not satisfied, the workers are removed, leading to severe exploitation,” the Congress leader said.