90,000 Jobs, 3 Cr Candidates: Meet the Overqualified Job Aspirants

Despite the official announcement in February, concerned authorities at Railways haven’t announced exam dates yet.

Protests by AISA-backed group, ‘Rozgar Mange India’ against delay in exam date by the Railway Recruitment Board.

(Photo courtesy: Rozgar Mange India/ Altered by The Quint)

Three crore candidates, 90,000 vacancies. The odds of making it as a locomotive pilot in the Indian Railways is 1 against 333.

But this year’s story is not about the probability of becoming a government employee.  It is about overqualified, unemployed candidates who are staring at an uncertain future.

Among them is 27-year-old Vikas Maurya, a B.Tech graduate from Lucknow’s Babu Banarasi Das Institute of Technology & Management.

It’s a stressful time for Vikas, who hails from Varanasi and has been looking for a job since 2013.

Don’t have time to read? Listen to instead.

B.Tech Pass Out Applies for Loco Pilot’s Job

When the Indian Railways had announced 90,000 vacancies in February this year, Vikas was hopeful of finally landing a job. That wasn’t meant to be with no official announcement on the exam date by the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB), almost five months after the advertisement about vacancies.

I have been preparing for competitive exams since 2013 as there was no campus placement. When the form on railway vacancies came in February, ideally admit cards should have been issued by June so that there was clarity regarding exam date.

Vikas Maurya, B.Tech pass out (Has applied for job of loco pilot)

On 29 June, protests were held in different cities demanding that exam dates for 90,000 vacancies in the Railways should be announced soon.(Photo Courtesy: Rozgar Mange India/Facebook)

Vikas is among 3 crore candidates who have applied for 90,000 vacancies under Group D and openings of Assistant Loco Pilot and technicians.

Minimum qualification for these jobs is clearing Class 10. An average salary of Rs 20,000 is offered on these jobs.

Vikas’ apprehension is that the entire recruitment cycle may take at least a year before the candidates are asked to join formally at respective locations.

There are different stages that the candidates have to go through in any exam that’s conducted by the railways, which include – written exam, interview and document verification. Past record suggests that it has taken three years for the RRB (Railway Recruitment Board) to complete the joining formalities.

Vikas Maurya

Vikas was referring to his brother’s experience who had given an exam conducted by RRB in 2014 and was asked to join formally in 2017. For Vikas, timely decision by the concerned authorities is important while he is applying elsewhere.

I had appeared in the exam conducted by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation but couldn’t make it beyond the interview stage. Railways had announced such huge vacancies after 2014, so I was very hopeful this time.

Vikas Maurya

Graduate and Post Graduate Among Other Candidates

Not just those with professional degrees have applied for these vacancies, graduates, and post graduates who’re currently unemployed have also pinned their hopes on the exam for which the date hasn’t been announced yet.

It has been six months since Tarun came to Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar, which is considered as a hub of coaching institutes for the civil services exam. His immediate concern with the delay is that the entrance test may clash with other exams.

I have also applied for the SSC CGL vacancies and post of VDO (Village Development Officer) in Uttar Pradesh. Since so many candidates have applied to railways, I wonder how they will manage the whole exercise since it would need a constant vigil across lakhs of exam centres.

Tarun Mishra (Holds an M.Sc degree, applied for Group D vacancies)

Tarun, who holds an MSc degree and hails from Lakhimpur Kheeri district of Uttar Pradesh, is desperately looking for a job. When asked why he has applied for the job in railways despite being over qualified, his earnest response was:

Government jobs are better on any given day. I don’t mind what kind of profile I get, just a job is enough. It will boost my confidence.

Tarun Mishra

Screenshot of online application form by the Railway Recruitment Board. Offical date for the exam hasn’t been announced. Last date for application was 31 March.(Photo: The Quint)

Deepak Shukla, 24, has a similar plight. Deepak completed his BSc from Purvanchal University and has been trying his luck in SSC exam and Bank PO for last two years.

Since competition is tough, we have no choice but to apply everywhere, even if that means sending an application for a loco pilot.

Deepak Shukla

In 2016, the Indian Railways had made a record of sorts by conducting online tests for 92 lakh candidates who had applied for around 18,000 vacancies at that time. It would be nothing short of a feat if the RRB (Railway Recruitment Board) is able to pull off the entrance exam for 3 crore candidates across India.

Protests in Bihar’s Chhapra by students demanding that dates for exam by the Railway Recruitment Board should be announced soon. (Photo Courtesy: Rozgar Mange India/Facebook)

No Final Confirmation on Exam Date

Following protests by few left-leaning student organisations, the Railway Recruitment Board put out a notice on their website with an assurance that scrutiny of forms will be completed by first week of July.

The interim notice dated 30 June 2018 says, “Computer based written tests for Assistant Loco Pilot/Technicians and Level-I posts are likely to commence in August/September 2018. Exact dates will be advised through RRBs’ websites in due course.”

It’s the word ‘likely’ which raises doubts about RRB’s intention to conduct exams within next few months.

According to Sucheta De, President of the All India Students Association (AISA), any promise by the RRB can’t be taken at face value unless and until final date is announced.

We want to know what is causing a delay in announcing the final date. As per the initial advertisement, exam should have been conducted in April or May.

Sucheta De, President, AISA

AISA National President, Sucheta De (2nd from Left) met Exceutive Director of Railway Recruitment Board, Amitabh Khare on 29 June.(Photo Courtesy: Rozgar Mange India/Facebook)

Activists like Sucheta De are now pointing fingers at contradictory statements of railway officials regarding exam dates. On 29 June, a group backed by AISA called ‘Rozgar mange India’ had organised protests in Delhi and other cities.

When a delegation of protesters met Amitabh Khare, executive director of the Railway Recruitment Board in Delhi, they were told that final dates will be announced in the first week of July. However, when another group of protesters met the GM Eastern Railway in Kolkata, they were told that “exams won’t be held till December”.

A statement issued by AISA-backed group, ‘Rozgar Mange India’ said:

The contradictory words of top officials of the Indian Railways clearly sends a message that the BJP govt has brought out the vacancies only to portray, before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, that it is committed to providing jobs.

Statement by <i>‘Rozgar Mange India’ </i>(dated 30 June 2018)

On 2 July 2018, in an interview to Swarajya magazine, Prime Minister Modi had rued over lack of data on the front of jobs. “More than a lack of jobs, the issue is a lack of data on jobs,” said Modi as he suggested that the EPFO data “shows a rise in formal sector jobs”.

While the government continues to dole out data, giving a sense that enough jobs have been created in the last four years, for youngsters like Vikas and Deepak, all such promises have turned out to be another ‘jumla’ by the ruling party.