Phd holders among 23 lakh lining for peon’s job in UP

The requirements for the jobs included passing primary school education and being able to ride a bike. “We were shocked to see the response”, said Mittal.

The applicants include 255 PhD holders and a colossal 152,000 graduates – meaning there are over 6,250 candidates for each post. Thousands of candidates with Masters degree in Commerce, Humanities and Sciences are also among the applicants, something which indicates the gravity of the unemployment situation in the State.

However, a history professor Rahul Shukla said a government job, that too in the Secretariat that is the seat of the government, offered the possibility of proximity with government functionaries at all levels, politicians and others, besides handling the visitors and their files. But, with a beeline of 23 lakh candidates, direct interview would take four and a half years even if the interviews went on 24X7, non-stop. “Now, this is practically impossible to interview such a large number of candidates”.

Rekha Verma, another applicant, said that it was better to serve water to officers than to lead a life of dependency.

According to Ambika Chaudhary, Minister in Uttar Pradesh government, the process of recruitment may be changed.

Asked why India’s economy can not create enough jobs despite the country’s shining image as an emerging economic powerhouse, Sanjay K. Singh, a professor of economics at the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, said that a shortage of skilled workers is at the root of the crisis. “Unemployable youth can’t be employed without providing them required skill and knowledge even with faster economic growth”, Singh said to VOA.

Singh says that there are enough vacancies in the private sector.

So much for having a degree that will actually be of no use.

What further baffled the officials is qualification of most applicants for the job that involves cleaning offices inside the legislative assembly building in the state capital of Lucknow.