Even a couple of years ago, Uttar Pradesh had the most skewed ratio of the number of available jobs to the number of applicants.
The Samajwadi Party government was criticised for not being able to create enough employment. The opposition created a huge ruckus when in 2015, a whopping 23 lakh people applied for 368 posts of peons. However, today, West Bengal has taken the crown from UP.
According to a report published by a Bengali daily, over 25 lakh people have applied for 6,000 Group ‘D’ posts in the West Bengal government secretariat till January 28.
Surprisingly, among the 25 lakh candidates, a large number of applicants are graduates, postgraduates and even PhD holders.
However, the minimum qualification required for the post is just an elementary school certificate. The upper age limit for applying is 40 years, and the monthly salary being offered is Rs 16,200.
According to officials, more than 1,50,000 applicants are graduates, and 24,969 are postgraduates. There were also more than 250 doctorates among the applicants.
The opposition parties have taken a note on the issue and have attacked Mamata Banerjee’s TMC government questioning about her job-creation promises.
However, the authorities say that the reason for a large number of applications is because there is no registration fee for the examination to be conducted on May 31, 2017.
The number of registered unemployed people in West Bengal is said to over almost 78 lakh.
The Logical Indian opinion
Bengal – India’s fourth most populous state – is losing its pool of talent just because of the lack of opportunities available in the state. Though there is no dearth of talent in Bengal, there are not enough scope to channelise these talents and grow according to one’s potential.
While there is an obsession with the “security” of government jobs in the state, on another hand, the private job sector hasn’t unravelled many openings for the not-so-mainstream jobs. In Bengaluru and Hyderabad, remunerations are higher by 35% than what is paid in Kolkata.
It is the government that should take charge and create more opportunities for candidates who have worked hard throughout their career to channelise themselves into better job positions.
