TAMAGHNA BANERJEE
Soumendu Barat, postgraduate in history and BengaliNasima Begum, graduate in economics with diploma in a computer course
Sanjay Dutta, postgraduate in Bengali
Oct.13: In Calcutta this morning, Soumendu, Nasima and Sanjay were preparing for the biggest gamble of their lives where the chance of success is .004.
The jackpot? A Group D government job that will enable them to work as “peon, orderly peon, night guard or darwan”.
Joblessness, the curse generations have lived with in Bengal and elsewhere in the world, hit Calcutta in its face today when a swollen tide of educated youths eddied before the state public service commission office on SP Mukherjee Road.
Throngs of job aspirants before the multi-storeyed building are not an unusual sight but today was different.
Waves and waves of applicants — some put the number at 2 lakh — converged in front of the building to submit application forms, giving shape and size to the enormity of a problem everyone knows about but need not confront in everyday life.
The posts they were queuing up for number 4,013. As on Tuesday evening, 9 lakh aspirants have put in applications. A written test will be held later.
“Tomorrow is the last date for submission and some people will mail their forms…. So, the number of applicants will be more than 10 lakh for just 4,013 vacancies. This is a record and we didn’t expect this,” a senior PSC official said.
Neither did many Calcuttans, some ensconced in the belief that the growth of the private sector has largely tackled educated unemployment. “I thought tickets for a cricket match were being sold from this government office,” said a commuter.
No category of work can be demeaned. But the qualification for the posts the 10 lakh are applying makes it clear that if they land the job, the years they spent in higher education would have been wasted. Any Indian citizen who has studied till Class VIII is eligible to sit for the test.
As the day wore on, desperation began telling on the nerves of those waiting. Some aspirants tried to jump the queue, prompting police to wield the baton indiscriminately.
The police were called after authorities realised that they had underestimated the number of applicants.
“Many candidates were acting as if they would get the job if they submitted their forms ahead of others. They looked so desperate,” said a police officer.
But Barat, the 27-year-old postgraduate from Santoshpur, still waited, ignoring the bruises inflicted by batons.
“I badly need this job,” said Barat, who could not crack the School Service Commission test in two attempts. Unemployed for over five years, he has to take care of a family of four, including his parents and a younger sister, with the Rs 2,500 he earns as an insurance agent.
“I will be earning more than Rs 10,000 if I get this job. I don’t care about my qualification…. I need a job for my family,” Barat said.
The rush also brought to the fore other stakeholders job applications never reflect fully: among the crowd were several parents who accompanied their children to the PSC office.
Finance minister Asim Dasgupta said this was the first time Group D employees were being recruited through the PSC. Earlier, the department concerned used to hire directly. “We have taken this decision to introduce transparency in the system,” Dasgupta said.
“Many of the applicants are likely to be overqualified and that is an indication of the unemployment problem in the state,” said Anindya Sen, professor of economics, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.
Attributing the rush to a pan-Indian phenomenon, he added that the “security element” of a government job resulted in the higher number of applicants.
Bengal labour minister Anadi Sahoo put the number of unemployed in the state at 59 lakh.
But if more than 10 lakh people — trends suggest that more than 90 per cent of the applicants will be from Bengal — appear for the test to select Group D staff, questions do arise over the veracity of the data.
WITH INPUTS FROM ANINDYA SENGUPTA AND CHANDREYEE CHATTERJEE
Our politicians are playing with fire when they behave like ostriches, sticking their heads in sand to avoid a dust storm.
There is a very big storm brewing up - the population storm.
None of the political parties are daring to take action because of vote bank politics.
The trouble which occurred above is just a minor event and the peoples anger will become uncontrollable no matter whether Mr Chidambaram uses the IAF or not.
By continuing the reservation boogie and now planning to add further categories and sub-categories on the basis of religion is putting a premium of backwardness.
The poor people irrespective of caste or religion should be given good education up to the college level, not only primary level.
For that we have to have good schools and teachers but the teachers appointed so far are mostly political appointees so how can you improve the education system.
You give the poor a full stomach, clothes and good education and then chose the best for employment.The politicians call it ROTI,KAPADA & MAKAN, during elections.
By choosing mediocre people, India is becoming a nation ruled by mediocre people with results for all to see.
Our best brains have gone out of India where they are winning awards but those staying back just cannot win awards as they are all mediocre people.
No Indian living in India, has won a Nobel prize after Independence. Mother Teresa was not an Indian.
What a shame for a country of 1200 million?
China is beating India in all aspects because they are not weighed down by the baggage of reservation.
Increasing number of people trying to join the bandwagon thus creating enemity between different castes, religions.
Did you say Divide and rule.
The British did it.
Now are politicians are following them.
Initially, reservation was to be for only 10 years.
Now, two generations have been under reservation with no improvement in the plight of the poor people. It would appear they have become worse.
The Ambanis, Ruias and others are becoming richer by gobbling up the poor people's land through SEZ and other means but the poor continue to be poor.
Mr. Chidambaram, unless you improve the condition of the poor, no amount of air power is going to quell their anger.
They already consider themselves dead. It makes no difference to them whether they die of hunger or from a bullet.
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