Lack of employment may have led to KCR’s downfall

The people of Telangana had waited a long time for the Chief Minister to keep his promises of job creation, said Pushpendra Reddy (24) of Hyderabad. “For the last three years, I have not been able to get a good government job, let alone a good government job, even private work,” he said, adding that he earns a livelihood by going to the Secunderabad Railway Station every day and buying tickets for passengers for a commission. 

The election results were announced on December 3, 2023. The Indian National Congress won a total of 64 seats out of the total of 119 in Telangana. India’s 29th and youngest state, which was formed in 2014, had Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS)-led government for the last 10 years with Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, also known as KCR, at the helm. 

Public welfare and employment were the two major issues in the poll campaign for the Telangana Assembly elections this time. While it is often debated which one of the two should be prioritised, the incumbent party in office has paid for empty poll promises of job creation in Telangana for the last 10 years. 

During interviews with news channels ahead of the polls, CM KCR spoke about development indices and quoted figures. While the figures do show progress in some areas of the state, they do not mention human development indicators or employment rates. The state has shown some economic progress but has been largely lacking in human development. 

After two terms of the BRS government and 10 years since state formation, Telangana reported a 15 per cent unemployment rate for people aged 15-29 years, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2022-2023. This is much higher than the national average of 10 per cent and the highest in the country. The figures for women in the same age group are even higher, the survey showed.

India has the largest population of youth in the world — about 66 percent of India’s total population is below 35 years of age. It is not surprising that dissatisfaction with employment has now emerged as a major challenge for state governments and political parties in Telangana.

The youth are dissatisfied with the ruling BRS because of the lack of jobs. During the Telangana statehood movement, issues such as water and new government jobs were heavily promoted as state development mantras. The most serious criticism levelled against the state government in the last 10 years is that BRS has paid little to no attention to job creation.

In the last 10 years, not a single job has been created in Group One of the State Civil Services, but the number of districts in the state has increased from 10 in 2014 to 33 now. Most universities in the state are also working with just one-third of the total staff required.

The state government became so fed up with the youths’ demands for employment that it filed a case against a young woman for defaming the state government in this matter. Sirisha (25), who is also known as Barrelakka (a sister who owns buffaloes), is a poor and unemployed woman who was an independent candidate in Kollapur constituency. 

Sirisha studied for government jobs while living in Hyderabad, but she became dissatisfied when recruitments were repeatedly postponed. She then returned to her village and began raising buffaloes there. She posted her story on social media and it went viral. The government then filed a case against her for allegedly “defaming the government”.

Since then, Sirisha has become a symbol of unrest in Telangana for demanding employment. She has emerged as a symbol of the issue of unemployment and alleged arbitrariness of the state government. 

Not just a lack of jobs, but the incident of question papers from Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) recruitment examinations being leaked also showed systemic failure. It is worth noting that over 2.2 million young people had registered with TSPSC for various recruitment examinations in the hope of finding work.

In every speech over the last five years, CM KCR and IT Minister KT Rama Rao have mentioned their commitment to providing employment to the youth and recognising their problems. However, the reality is that they were insensitive in this matter. KCR came to power on the back of the aspirations of the unemployed and wasted no time in ignoring them. 

According to the law, the state government also owes crores of rupees to unemployed youth. The government did not implement the unemployment dole of Rs 3,016 promised before the 2018 Assembly elections — five years ago — and thus owes Rs 1,71,912 to every unemployed youth. 

Furthermore, when Andhra Pradesh was divided, this government terminated all previous governments’ programmes for unemployed youth and as a result of policy changes, approximately 6.5 million youth in the state were deprived of direct and indirect employment.

There are about 191,000 vacancies in government departments, the CR Biswal Committee-headed Pay Revision Commission (PRC) report said. Furthermore, the BRS government has failed to fill 24,000 teacher vacancies and an additional 12,000 higher education vacancies. Higher education vacancies have reached an alarming 64.9 percent, demonstrating the state government’s lack of sincerity and commitment to education.

It remains to be seen whether the new Congress-led government can create jobs for the state’s youth. However, according to its election manifesto, it will announce the job calendar twice a year, on June 2 and September 17. The poll promises also included the reorganisation of TSPSC with appointment of honest officials.