IAS aspirants submit Memorandum to Ghulam Nabi Azad; seeks his personal intervention for age relaxation Exponent Bureau : A delegation of IAS aspirants led by a group of students from both Jammu and Kashmir region have submitted a memorandum to the office of Ghulam Nabi Azad seeking his personal intervention for restoration of age relaxation for the the aspirants of the newly created union territory. It is pertinent to mention here that central government withdrew the age relaxation for the IAS aspirants of Jammu and Kashmir in 2018 which otherwise gave them the benefit of 5 years. The memorandum reads “Esteemed Jenab Ghulam Nabi Azad, Former Chief Minister, Jammu & Kashmir(Now UT). <h1>Subject:- Request for reinstating the upper age limit relaxation for candidates domiciled in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir during the period from 01/01/1980 to 31/12/1989 in all the Central Civil Services and post recruitment made through UPSC or SSC or otherwise by the Central Government.</h1> <strong> </strong> Esteemed sir, With due respect we want to bring to your kind notice that the recent scrapping of age relaxation for domiciled citizens of J&K born between 01/01/1980 to 31/12/1989 in all the Central Civil Services and post recruitment made through UPSC or SSC or otherwise by the Central Government has left the youth of this region directionless. Sir, as you are aware of the decade long insurgency in J&K when militancy was at its peak; an age relaxation of 5 years was provided to the domiciled candidates in order to provide them some buffer time which they had lost due to migration/lack of services/facilities etc to regain themselves and thus prepare for various Central Government jobs. In view of this, yearly a report of Ministry of Home Affairs used to substantiate this claim by sending a report to Department of Training & Personnel to continue the age relaxation to the domiciled citizens of UT J&K keeping in view the special circumstances which the citizens of the UT of J&K were facing. Surprisingly, the Government in Feb.2018 passed an order that the relaxation would continue only till Dec.2019. Owing to this, many aspirants were in a quandary as they had strategically saved their attempts keeping in view the age relaxation which was provided to them. Hence the untimely scrapping has left the aspirants with unutilized attempts. This has sent the aspirants in a state of complete shock as none of them would have envisaged this move from the Govt..It is pertinent to mention that this policy was going to expire in 2026 automatically, as the aspirants till then would either cross the relaxed age of 35 or would have exhausted their attempts. It is specifically because of this reason that the aspirants thought that this age relaxation would continue at least till 2026. Sir, the job avenues in the region are already minimal with added issues of delay in recruitment notification, cancellation of the recruitment process etc. The unemployment rate in UT J&K is one of the worst in the Indian states at around 32%.<strong> Hence applying to central govt. jobs is the only viable option</strong>. Hence, this untimely termination of the relaxation at this crucial juncture of our career is unjust as aspirants are yet to utilize their full attempts which had been saved strategically for UPSC ,given the number of attempts is only six (6) for general category. Sir, all these years, we have knocked the doors of many leaders but to no avail causing the aspirants to incur further wastage of time in a vain pursuit. We request your good self to kindly take up the matter with the <strong>Hon’ble PM of India </strong>so as to save the youth from losing their crucial years to uncertainty and lack of opportunities. <h1>We look up to your leadership and guidance in this hour of desperation with a hope that you will support our justified case.</h1>