By Krishna N. Das

PATNA, India (Reuters – Niranjan Kumar is the eldest son from a small Indian farmer. Niranjan was among 12.5 million young people who applied for 35,000 railway jobs after the department of railways opened recruitment examinations a little over a year back.

28-year-old mathematics graduate and his roommates from dormitory failed to make the recently released shortlist, despite having worked for many years. This was despite their collective efforts, which triggered protests in Bihar by an army of young unemployed people.

Kumar and other students were furious at what they called a flawed recruitment process and blocked rail traffic. Other students vandalized and even set fire to coaches on a station train without passengers.

Kumar said that the government was playing with his life, while he sat cross-legged in a friend’s bed at Kashi Lodge in Bihar’s capital Patna. “They want to privatize everything. They don’t want people to work for them.”

India has had a history of high unemployment and government jobs are always highly prized. The widespread outrage over railway jobs presents a problem for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ahead of critical state elections scheduled in February and March including Uttar Pradesh.

Modi won power in 2014, promising to create jobs for millions of Indians. According to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, Mumbai (CMIE), the national unemployment reached its peak at 23.5% in 2020. It has remained high above 7% for the past few years.

The CMIE data indicates that India’s 52 million jobless people were looking for work last month. More worryingly, the figure does not include many jobless people in the country of 1.35 billion who have stopped seeking employment https://www.reuters.com/world/india/off-canada-indias-jobs-crisis-exasperates-its-youth-2022-01-25.

India’s population between the ages of 15 and 64 is approximately 1 billion. Only 403 million are employed according to CMIE data.

Rahul Gandhi, the leader of opposition parties, said this month in a tweet that unemployment is “a very serious crisis” and it was the duty of the prime minister. Stop making excuses!

Requests for comments from the labour and finance ministers were not answered.

Gopal Krishna Agarwal (a spokesperson for Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party) stated that the government knew about the job situation and tried to encourage manufacturing through production-linked incentives. Modi directed the authorities to correct the issues with railway recruitment.

He said, “We’re not denialists. We don’t think unemployment is a problem.” We are still working to find long-term solutions.

“ONLY WAY OUT”

Kumar, along with the other candidates who failed to qualify for the job, accuse Indian Railways (IR) of using a flawed recruitment process that shortlisted many applicants for different jobs.

Kumar stated, “Had they selected one candidate for only one job,” Kumar added.

Kumar, a bearded and balding male added: “I haven’t paid my rent for one year. My father has said he won’t support me financially after this year.”

He said, “My family has had always lived a hard existence.” For me, a government job is my only hope.

Kashi Lodge houses dozens of people, most from rural poverty, who have been studying hard for their competitive exams for government jobs since at least five year. Kumar was speaking when he saw a young man bathe in his underwear while others prepared lunch using stoves that were mounted to small gas cylinders.

Ajay K. Mishra (another lodge member) said that he used to be a great Modi devotee, and cheered for him when he visited Patna in order to cast his vote before 2014.

Mishra thumped his chest, as others packed the narrow balcony near his room door. “We gave our hearts for him,” Mishra added. “He will now have to listen the same youth that are so hurting.”

Is it his wish that we sell tea and snacks (pakodas)? We may have to eventually do that. Our time is running out and we’ll soon be too old in order to apply for government jobs.

Mishra believes he must find work quickly as his father, a university worker, will be retiring next year and he will have to take care of his family.

He said that it was now or never, with books on current affairs scattered across his bed and cement shelves. The shelf’s cement shelves were watched by Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge.

Mishra stated, “We started a leaderless revolution in which everybody is a leader because all is affected.”