MP gov’t closes 36 employment offices, unique protest ensues

Image Courtesy:freepressjournal.in

As many as 36 employment district offices in Madhya Pradesh will be closed by the state, announced Youth Welfare Minister Yashodhra Raje during Legislative Assembly proceedings on March 2, 2021. This decision came at a time when over 13 lakh candidates have already registered for government employment from March 2020 till February 10, 2021 in Madhya Pradesh alone.

On March 4, some news channels covered a huge protest rally in Badwani district wherein youths demanded employment that was promised to them by the state government. Agitators conducted rallies and prostrated on the ground requesting the government to carry out their appointment as government employees.

Members of the protest also started a hashtag on social media “Rojgar Do” to promote their cause further. However, according to a protester speaking to the NDTV India, the government has not responded despite making promises in view of approaching municipal elections.

According to Madhya Pradesh government data, 13,57,493 applicants registered in employment exchange offices across 51 districts since last year. Of them, as many as 56,712 people applied in Guna district.

Registration at such offices is mandatory to apply for any government position. Accordingly, Madhya Pradesh recorded a 19-fold jump in unemployment registration compared to last year. Between January 1, 2021 and February 25, 2021 as many as 7,73,489 unemployed persons registered with the State Employment Exchange, said the NewsClick.

Moreover, the State Employment Exchange website stated that 5.12 lakh unemployed people registered in January 2021 and 2.60 lakh people registered by February 25, 2021. Meanwhile, 5.12 lakh people registered in 2020 and 8.45 lakh people registered as unemployed in 2019.

It is alarming that in the face of this steadily growing unemployment rate, the state government is choosing to close employment offices. Raje told the Free Press Journal that the government had taken this decision because none of the government, semi government, private companies, industries and other departments called aspirants for the interview whose names were registered at employment offices.

However, an NDTV report showed that nearly 1 lakh government posts are empty owing to the lack of related examinations in the last three years. Further, nearly one and a half crore people in Madhya Pradesh are unemployed, even though according to the government’s economic surveys, nearly 24.72 lakh people are registered as unemployed. In the school education sector, 70,000 posts are vacant. Similarly, the police department has about 90,000 empty posts but nearly three lakh applicants lost the opportunity due to delay in appointment for the last three years.

While unemployed youths agitated in the streets, the Guest Scholars’ Association reminded Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan via media reports of his promise to take them back in the administrative system. There are about 600 guest scholars waiting for a job for the last 13 months and more, said the Free Press Journal.

Hashtags like “Rojgar Do,” “Modi Job Do,” “Student Demands,” “Unemployment” are frequently being used on social media as the youth grows weary of the Modi-regime’s empty promise of 2 crore jobs.

According to Centre for Labour Studies Assistant Professor Avinash Kumar at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) speaking to The Telegraph, the share of public employment has fallen to below 20 percent out of over 100 million regular employment opportunities in 2018. This means that government jobs are decreasing annually despite their popularity among the youth.

Kumar argued that the government is largely to blame for this owing to neglect in providing public services and ill-conceived policy shocks such as demonetisation. He stated that when the government itself is sitting over its recruitments for years, it is amplifying the anger of youths.