Controversy has started during recent case of recruitments for the post of forest rangers in which the criteria of measuring chest size of women applicant for the post of forest ranger and deputy ranger in Haryana by Staff Selection Commision (HSSSC) which has been strongly condemned not only by female applicntd but also by the leaders of political parties in opposition in the state Congresas. The former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that not only in Haryana, but every woman in the country has objection over such a decision demanding that the ruling BJP-JJP government should withdraw this objectionable, derogatory and a ‘Tughlaqi’ decree immediately and take back the decision not only in present case of recruitments in forest department but also in case of female police recruitments.
According to a government spokesperson, the recruitments are being done on the basis of Haryana Forest Service Group C rules 1998, wherein the physical standards for height and chest for both male and female candidates have been prescribed and even in the previous cases also all such recruitments have been done on basis of such prescribed standards during recruitments from time to time. Hooda claimed that the ruling government has carried out this controversial decision through the HSSSC and it seems as if insulting women has become the policy of the present BJP-JJP government in the state.
Another senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala termed the rule to measure women’s chests for recruitment is merely an ‘Tughlaqi’ decree, saying that due notice has been issued that the unexpanded chest of the candidates should be 74 cm and the expanded chest as 79 cm. Surjewala said thast Chief Minister should know that even in the recruitment of women police constables and other police staff police in Haryana state, the chest of the female candidates is not measured and must be aware that even in the Central Police Organisation there is no standard to measure the chest of a female candidate, stating the rules a cruel joke against females, demanded to role back the same at the earliest.
However, according to an officer of the state government, the rule has been a norm, even the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, in their guidelines have also prescribed physical standards for height and chest measurement in the case of both men and women recruitment, wherein it is strictly mentioned that only women doctors and staff are to be deployed for taking physical measurements of women candidates during the recruitment process and the neighbouring states including Punjab state too have physical measurements for height and chest in case of both men and women candidates in the matter of recruitment of forest and police staff, he added.
