Telangana's police aspirants fume: Age is catching up, jobs aren't

Crores of Indians across states are in a years-long struggle over government jobs, as parts 1, 2 and 3 of The Federal's Jobs Distress series showed. In Jharkhand, a students’ protest over recruitment exam ‘anomalies’ has entered day 4, with allegations of police excesses.

In Telangana, the cop jobs themselves are triggering candidates' fury. Lakhs of youngsters in the state have been waiting years for police jobs. In July 2026, after a nearly four-year gap since 2022, the Revanth Reddy government issued a notification to fill 7,437 vacant posts of constable and Sub-Inspector (SI). A majority of candidates feel this number is too low and are demanding that all vacancies in the police department be filled at once.

Age constraints

A large share of aspirants say they have crossed, or are close to crossing, the upper age limit. For constable posts, the age limit is 27 for general-category candidates and 32 for those from reserved categories. Candidates are now demanding that the upper limit for reserved categories be raised from to 36.

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SI posts have their own, lower base age range. Many aspirants have spent years in coaching, preparing specifically for the SI exam. Others say they left private-sector jobs to focus entirely on cracking police recruitment.

Having come this far, the paucity of openings leaves them feeling cheated out of a lifetime opportunity.

Yawning gap

“Senior officials had earlier said that there were around 17,000 vacancies in the police department. So, all of them should be filled,” one of the candidates told The Federal Telangana. He pointed out that this is a far greater number than the 7,437 jobs the Revanth government has issued a notification for.

Police recruitment has been a major issue for aspirants across Telangana for years now. Protests, rallies and sit-ins have been held outside the state Police Recruitment Board office in Hyderabad and in areas such as Dilsukhnagar, Chaitanyapuri and Osmania University. Attempts to lay siege to government offices have led to arrests.

Along with constable and SI aspirants, unemployed youth and student organisations have joined the protests. Gumpula Vinay from Mancherial explained his aspiration to The Federal Telangana. “Becoming a police officer has been my childhood dream. My aim in life is to stand by people and give those in distress a sense of security,” he said.

Age bar and GO 46

N Kumar from Karimnagar believes the age bar needs immediate addressing. "The upper age limit should be extended to 36 years for constable posts and 38 years for SI posts, he said. He pointed to GO 46 as another major issue, saying it "ruined our lives."

GO 46 of the Telangana government, issued in April 2022, mandates that 95% of direct recruitment posts in local, contiguous district, and zonal cadres be reserved for local candidates. Unemployed youth and opposition leaders have protested and lobbied the state government to scrap or amend the policy, arguing that it creates skewed job allocations.

Candidates in urban areas like Hyderabad can clear selections with lower marks compared to aspirants in other districts with stricter competition, they allege.

Costly preparations

The cost of preparing for police recruitment has added to the frustration. The coaching fees alone could be anything between Rs 15,000 and Rs 40,000. Somesh from Adilabad said those coming to Hyderabad from the districts to prepare for the examinations spend up to Rs 15,000 a month on accommodation, food, library fees and travel.

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Candidates estimate that preparing for a year costs around Rs 2 lakh, while two or three years of preparation can cost up to Rs 5 lakh. Examination fees add to the burden.

“Preparing for a job is not just about paying the examination fee. Coaching, accommodation, food, library and travel all cost money. Even without knowing whether we will get a job, we have to spend lakhs on preparation,” said candidate Vinay.

Massive scale

Past recruitment drives show the scale of competition for police jobs in Telangana.

After the state was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, the first police recruitment drive was conducted in 2016, for 11,748 posts. Around 7.66 lakh candidates applied for these posts.

In 2018, a recruitment drive was conducted for 18,428 posts, attracting around 7.19 lakh applications. In 2022, seven notifications were issued for 17,516 posts, with around 7, 33,559 candidates applying. As some candidates applied for more than one post, the total number of applications reached 12.91 lakh.

This explains the anger and disappointment over the notification for less than 8,000just over 7,000 posts this year.

‘Why is our protest not visible?’

Some of the candidates, who have been protesting for a while now, feel slighted, saying the government has largely ignored their concerns. “We have been protesting for the past 40 days. A protest by the Cockroach Janata Party, 1,500 km away, is visible to the Revanth government, but can’t it see our protest, which has been going on for the past 40 days just 15 km away?” asked Indira Naik, convenor of the Unemployed JAC.

“They call themselves a people’s government. Why, then, is the government not answering our questions?” she asked.

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Telangana currently has 1,091 police stations and 35 jails, with more than 78,000 personnel on duty. More than 91,000 posts have been sanctioned, but there's little headway in filling them.

Experts say the police department needs more personnel in view of the growing population, cybercrime, traffic management, and law-and-order requirements.

Promises made

Sheikh Kaleesha, a mentor and adviser who has been raising awareness about police recruitment, referred to the government’s stand in a petition filed in the High Court by unemployed youth. “The Chief Minister had promised to provide 2 lakh jobs every year. What happened to that promise?” he asked.

He told The Federal Telangana that around 20 lakh unemployed people and youngsters in Telangana were waiting for government jobs, hoping that Revanth Reddy would fulfil the recruitment promise he made during the 2023 elections.

The government says recruitment is being carried out in phases, adding that vacancies are being filled after considering departmental requirements, the financial situation, the roster system and administrative approvals.

Financial burden

Officials maintain that filling all vacancies at once is not feasible, since it would place an additional burden of hundreds of crores of rupees on the exchequer every year.

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In February 2025, a statement from the DGP’s office had said 717 civil and Armed Reserve SI posts were vacant. Since then, around 400 personnel have retired by this July.

This means that more than 1,000 SI posts would have to be filled. Yet the government has said in the notification that only 162 SI posts will be filled. That has added to the questions being raised by aspirants.

There is a perception that government recruitment processes are often accompanied by controversies such as question-paper leaks and cancellation of examinations. DGP CV Anand maintains that recruitments conducted by the Telangana Police Recruitment Board have not faced such controversies. This, however, is little comfort for candidates eager to land government jobs.

Absent posts

Aspirants have also questioned why no police recruitment posts have been allotted to the Future City region, which is receiving considerable attention from the Revanth government.

Telangana has 33 districts, but the government is planning to fill civil and armed constable posts in just 26 of them. No constable or SI notifications have been posted for the Hyderabad, Rangareddy and Medchal-Malkajgiri districts, considered among the most happening places.