Job promises rain down in poll-bound Bihar. But what does the pursuit of one look like?

Indian Express

3 days ago

IT'S THE weekend, and Patna's Gandhi Maidan area is buzzing with thousands of youths from across Bihar. Their destination is the nearby Gyan Bhawan, more specifically a 'Maha Rojgar Mela (Grand Job Fair)' organised by the Indian Youth Congress (IYC).
As the gates of the building swing open, the applicants rush in, collecting forms and making small huddles in the auditorium itself to fill them out. Once they have completed the forms, they join long queues snaking into the main hall.
Inside, half the space is reserved for candidates awaiting interviews, while the other half has 199 stalls set up by 190 private companies, including household names such as Flipkart, Paytm, Hitachi, Tech Mahindra, Tata Alliance, Voltas, Zepto, and Aditya Birla. The youths make a beeline for these stalls, holding their registration forms, academic certificates, and resumes in hand.
Among the multitude is 24-year-old Jyotish Kumar, who hopes the job fair is the answer to his 'financial problems'. Belonging to a village in Madhepura district, Kumar arrived in Patna first in 2019, seeking better education options and coaching for NEET. However, months later, his father was killed, while his mother, too, lost her job when the Centre's 'Sakshar Bharat Mission' for adult literacy wrapped up.
Kumar went back, giving up on his dreams of becoming a doctor, and pursued a BSc in Zoology from Madhepura University. Now saddled with a Rs 3 lakh loan, he is back in Patna to support his mother. Though his first preference is a job in Bihar, he says he will move if needed.
The story plays out across the hall. Md Mahbubur Rahman, 26, says he is an economics graduate from Saharsa, with an additional Bachelor of Library and Information Science degree, and certificates showing he has computer knowledge.
It is an impressive resume, particularly as none of his siblings went past intermediate. However, that has not got Rahman the job he needs.
So he is now pursuing another qualification: a BEd.
'I have been applying for government jobs since passing matric (Class 10) in 2015, and am now trying my luck in the private sector,' he says. Recently, he tried his luck for a government peon's post, despite his educational qualifications, Rahman says.
With his large family including his parents, three brothers and two sisters, Rahman also tutors kids on the side to earn a little money.
Trying to push through a crowd near a stall, Rahman says: 'Since there are no jobs in our family, our lives are stuck. Marriage prospects are also an issue.'
The unemployment question is central to the discourse in Bihar as Assembly elections near. Political parties are trying to outdo each other with promises of job creation. With the RJD hoping its promises in this regard will work for it like they did in the 2000 elections, Chief Minister and JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar has also jumped in, vowing to create 1 crore jobs in the next five years. The job fair held by its Youth Congress is part of the Congress's push in this regard, including a 'Palayan Roko, Naukri Do (stop migration, give jobs) Yatra' it held in March.
The numbers show why the promise of jobs resonates so much with voters. The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for July-September 2024, which contains data only for urban areas, puts Bihar's unemployment rate for those aged above 15 at 7.3%, which is above the national average of 6.4%, and for those aged 15-29 years at 23.2%, well above the national average of 15.9% and the sixth worst among the states. When it comes to the labour force participation rate (a measure of the share of the working-age population actively working or seeking work), Bihar has the worst figures in the country in the above 15 years and the 15-29 years categories. As per the 2011 Census data, the corollary is that Bihar ranks second among states in out-migration, beaten only by Uttar Pradesh.
Rahman expects to join the migrant ranks. 'My father keeps telling us to try for jobs outside Bihar… After my B.Ed., I'll see.'
Rahul Bansal, who has travelled three hours from Khagaria for the fair, says that all 'good jobs' are outside the state, which is also a problem for people like him. 'Even here at the mela, most of the location options are in other states. But in cities such as Mumbai, Pune, and Bengaluru, the expenses alone would eat up the entire salary. So, I prefer something here,' says the 29-year-old.
While Rahman argues that Nitish Kumar's long tenure at the helm of the state has not benefited the youth, citing the leak of several exam question papers, 26-year-old Sagar Shan disagrees, talking about the recruitment of 'over 4 lakh teachers and 1 lakh constables alone'. From Nitish's native district of Nalanda, Shah has himself been trying for a government job since 2019.
IYC national president Uday Bhanu Chib told The Indian Express that the Patna job fair saw 48,000 registrations, with more than 20,000 candidates interviewed, and 7,000 receiving job letters on the spot.
Bihar Congress in-charge Krishna Allavaru said the rush exposed the NDA government's 'false assurances' to the youth. 'We are providing them jobs so that they can achieve their dreams. Unemployment in Bihar is not just a number, but is about a long wait.'
Congress spokesperson Gyan Ranjan Gupta added that if the IYC could facilitate so many jobs, 'imagine how many lakhs of jobs we will provide in Bihar itself when we come to power'.
Asked about the Congress claims, JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said, 'The amount of government employment provided in Bihar under Nitish ji's leadership is the reason why Bihar is ahead in the nation today in areas such as the student-to-teacher ratio and women's participation in the police force. The Congress, which now wants to bring 'Company Raj' here, should look at their own rule. When they were in power in Rajasthan, question papers were leaked 15 times.'
Not surprisingly, not everyone went away happy from the Patna Maha Rojgar Mela. 'I rejected an offer of a Rs 20,000 sales job in Pune,' Patna resident Md Shabanul Haqe, 28, who did his MBA from Kolkata, says. 'After an expensive MBA, how can I manage in another city on this salary? Even non-graduates earn Rs 10,000-12,000 doing odd jobs.'