- The Indian citizens reading the newspapers, browsing social media handles, watching innumerable reels, or, for that matter, podcasts related to the political churnings in the country would have noticed how the ruling dispensation at the Centre never lets go of an opportunity to mention how the country is surging ahead vis-à-vis economic growth. We are made to hear, listen, and read about India’s march towards positioning ourselves among the most advanced nations by the year 2047. We are told that the aspirational country with a young demographic has vowed to keep moving forward in our quest to be recognized as the fastest-growing economy in the world. While we may feel elated for a fleeting second about the honour what about the ground reality though?
PC: India Today
- The employment scenario in the country is not rosy at all. We are aware of it. The unemployment figures bandied about by the government authorities do not reflect the actual statistics. Little wonder that the youth unemployment is such a sensitive issue for the political parties to berate the ruling dispensation at any given opportunity and/or forums. Hence, the clamour for more reservations and quotas in government jobs and educational institutions never ceases. This being the case, there’s no such thing as being too educated for a job if we want/need that job and shoulder it competently. We produce ambition industrially and then fulfil it homeopathically, in doses much smaller than expected. What’s going on here?
PC: Transcontinental Times
- 10mn new graduates are milled every year, graduates form two-thirds of the unemployed 20-29 year olds. A particular cruelty is that after someone has stacked up the degrees, because they believed these would translate into a nice job, they are told shoo, go away, you’re overqualified. Recently, the Supreme Court set aside the appointment of a temporary bank attendant, not because he’s incompetent, but because he’s a graduate. And the job was earmarked for those schooled up to Class 10. Without getting into the merit of the SC’s diktat, what we must not miss here is the desperate bid by the qualified lot to find decent enough employment. When a person, fully aware of what the role entails, under no illusion about its salary or station, still wants it, why penalize them for being too educated? Not their fault, you see if enough jobs are unavailable.
PC: Business Today
- The way the Indian economy, indeed the world economy, is going, the predictable days of x CV fitting into y job opening are behind us. When only 10% of the 1.5mn engineers expected to graduate in a year are projected to get a job, we are only making the situation worse by fixating on the right vs wrong job for them. Yes, some engineers become cab drivers. Some literature docs from JNU are writing SEO content, their Keats and Kafka judging them from the shelf. Some govt ad for a peon’s job, requiring only Class V, see each vacancy draw as many as 1400 applications from grads+postgrads+PHDs alone. The promise that education will lead to a good income and status is often broken. But we can make things better. More employment opportunities. Simple.
