More than 9 lakh applications were received for 7,500 constable posts in Madhya Pradesh. This is not unheard of in India, right? But then it hasn’t been long since the news of India adding 16.8 crore jobs in six years came out.
This had sounded rather encouraging. The 2023-24 period was witness to India’s employment rising to 64.33 crore compared to 2017-18 it was only about 47.5 crore. Yet, this is clearly not enough.
Over 9 lakh people, including postgraduates, engineers, and even PhD holders, have reportedly applied for the Madhya Pradesh Police Constable Recruitment Exam 2025 (for constable posts). What is alarming is that the posts required the minimum qualification to be high school! To think that when the exam takes place on 30 October, spread across two shifts, one in the first half and one in the second, 52,000 amongst them would be postgraduates, 33,000 graduates and 12,000 engineers. About 50 have PhDs to their credit!
Are the applicants only looking at job security here? Or is it really because there is a dearth of jobs that is pushing qualified candidates to settle for lower level roles? Is this crisis limited to Madhya Pradesh alone? These are questions that arise in the minds of those concerned about the future of the country’s youth.
This crisis is emerging at a time when it is reported that India has become home to about 118 unicorns along with about two lakh startups recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT)!
While Madhya Pradesh has been strengthening its focus on skill development in order to create a thriving business and investment ecosystem, it clearly needs to double its efforts.
