Telangana govt?s new age limit for jobs leaves aspirants upset

The State government?s latest directive enhancing the upper age limits for government job recruitments has drawn a polarised reaction from the unemployed youth in Telangana. While the decision has provided vital relief to one section of aspirants, it has left remaining candidates feeling utterly betrayed.

Through the newly issued GO Ms No. 86, the State government set the maximum age limit to appear for general category government recruitments at 44 years for a period of one year.

While the move increases the eligibility for thousands of job seekers, it also slashes the upper age limit by two years compared to the previous extension and also reduces the relaxation period in half.

After assuming power, the Congress government had issued GO Ms No. 30 in February 2024, enhancing the general category upper-age limit from 44 years to 46 years for a two-year window.

With the relaxation period getting lapsed in February of this year, the age ceiling



technically reverted to the baseline of 34 years?triggering intense scrutiny over recent recruitment notifications.

While GO Ms No. 86 rescues candidates up to 44 years of age from that baseline drop, it actively locks out those aged 45 and 46, who had pinned their hopes on a full restoration of the previous policy.

The new relaxation is valid for only one year, unlike the two-year cushion period in the past. It also remains non-applicable to uniformed services like the Police, Excise, Fire, and Forest departments.

Unemployed youth in Telangana are now ramping up demands for immediate notifications as promised in past election manifestos. ?There are massive vacancies across various departments. We want the government to immediately notify at least 1,000 Group I, 2,000 Group II, and 3,000 Group III vacancies. Given the prevailing heatwave conditions in the State, we have temporarily paused our physical protests, but we will hit the streets again very soon,? Janardhan said.