Unemployed youth protest in Bihar: 'Why are you asking graduates to fry fritters
We are educated, unemployed, hungry. Don't kick us in the stomach This was the plea of a young boy from the Indian state of Bihar to his peers.
Unemployment and job riots in recent days in
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| Unemployed youth protest in Bihar: 'Why are you asking graduates to fry fritters |
one of India's most backward states continued for three days.
About 10 million people had applied for 35,000 jobs in Indian Railways.
The petitioners alleged that there was a lack of transparency in the whole process but only complications. One of the complications was that even the most educated people were allowed to compete for jobs with less education.
These complications led to anger and frustration. Students stopped trains and set several coaches on fire. The police responded to air firing and rain on protesters.
The Railways stopped the recruitment process and warned the applicants that they would be barred from taking all kinds of Railway Job Tests in future.
One newspaper wrote that the protests were not only about the lack of jobs but also about the burden that is being placed on the youth.
One of the protesters told the CCR he was the son of a farmer who had sold his land and taught it.
His mother did not buy medicine when she fell ill to save money for her son's stay in the city and for private coaching classes.
He slammed a comment made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018 in which he said that opening a small pakoda shop is also a job. "Why are you asking graduates to fry fritters?" He asks.
The youth's anger and violent protests have drawn attention to India's growing unemployment crisis. Many believe that the riots in Bihar and the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh during this week's job exams are a moment of reflection for the authorities.
Unemployment in these two states is a quarter of the total in India.
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| Unemployment in these two states is a quarter of the total in India. |
According to the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), a think tank, India's unemployment rate rose to about 8% in December. The rate was over 7% in 2020 and for most of 2021.
Economists say the current rate is much higher than the unemployment rate of at least the last three decades.
The number of job seekers in the working population has decreased: only 27% of people aged 15-24 are either working or looking for a job. The more educated a person is, the more likely they are to be unemployed and unwilling to take on low-paying, menial jobs. India's workforce has the lowest rate of women aged 15 and over in the world.
Young people between the ages of 18 and 29 are unemployed. According to Labor economist Radhika Kapoor, since most young people go to schools and colleges, the unemployment rate is highest among educated youth. "This is not a new problem and it has been going on for a long time," she said.
India is not creating enough jobs and better jobs for the youth. The Labor Survey found that a quarter of young people are doing 'family work without pay' at home, or providing support to their families and preparing for exams.
According to the survey, only one-third had regular employment, but 75% of them had no contract or written agreement and 60% were not eligible for Social Security.
Dr Kapoor says the uproar over government jobs also shows that India's youth prefer stable, secure jobs to modest and unstable jobs.
"There is uncertainty in which there is no way to build a career," she says. An educated young man does not want all this. Glamorizing or promoting the gig economy is not the answer to the problem of unemployment.
The streets of Patna in Bihar are littered with advertisements for private coaching schools promising to pass government jobs exams.
The crisis in agriculture in cities like Bihar has also increased unemployment. Arable land is dwindling, with farming becoming unprofitable. Farmers' families are selling land and taking loans to send their children to cities for private coaching. There are many of them whose first generation is literate, and in this unemployed economy they want white collar jobs.
Government schools and colleges fail to address the lack of confidence in these students. The streets of Patna in Bihar are littered with advertisements for private coaching schools promising to pass government jobs exams. Now teachers are telling their students that the government has no jobs. Six coaching school teachers have been named in a police report for allegedly inciting unrest.
This week's turmoil without a leader and leadership also shows how India's political parties are failing to deal with the job crisis. Angry students in Bihar say no one paid attention to their protest on social media after which they were forced to take to the streets.
Research in Indian cities shows that lack of jobs is leading to domestic violence.
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| Research in Indian cities shows that lack of jobs is leading to domestic violence. |
It should not be forgotten that the riots that led to the Emergency in 1975 and that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi suspended civil liberties and imprisoned thousands of people were due to unemployment and inflation.
A survey conducted in the early days of the Emergency found that approximately 24% of 18-24 year olds were unemployed. And now the biggest protest has taken place in Bihar.
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