13th of December 2001, headlines were made nationwide from desktop to newspaper when armed terrorists attempted to storm the Lok Sabha killing 9 people and attracted both national and international condemnation of the attacks. Exactly 22 years later, many people were reminded of the bitter attack through a breach of security by 4 protestors, with many media outlets presenting a narrative of this being another terrorist attack. However, it would later be understood that this narrative is far from the truth.
In the past 2 months, reports from France and other areas across Europe have emerged where Indians have attempted to illegally migrate to the United States and other developed countries. This was particularly brought to light during the covid era (2019 - 2023) where VICE news reported in the United Kingdom on bitter realities plaguing certain London neighbourhoods with large south asian diasporas who illegally immigrated there. Many American news publications across the spectrum have reported testimonies by these migrants on their journeys from countries that have less border restrictions or are internationally visa free through the cruel jungles of Central America and to the southern border of the United States where they have been subjected to harassment by corrupt border officials, kidnapping by cartels, extortion, and violence.
The term ‘Donkey flight’ emerged in diplomatic language from recent French investigations and police investigations within India that have exposed fraud in travel and study agencies in areas of high unemployment and few job opportunities in India that have led to hundreds of thousands migrating outside. In the past, emigration and migration out of India was typically seen as a step of the super educated and the elite since the 1970s. With the addition of illegal migrants and those seeking job opportunities with low skill labour and individuals coming from impoverished backgrounds, this migration can not only be classified as a brain drain, but a human capital and general economic drain as well from India fueled by desperation.
With many foreign reports and a recent parliament breach, while many television journalists fought for smoke cans, Hindustan Times and Indian Express reported interviews with family members of the 4 protestors and also gave a profile of all 4 protestors. 3 of them were unemployed, 2 have reported severe depression from unemployment. One of the protests (Neelam Azad) was noted to be highly educated and seeking a teaching position, but due to shortages, she has gathered suicidal thoughts. While another (Amol Shinde) has been applying for the army recruitment which gutter luck questioning the use of his efforts and education if he couldn’t get in. Azad and Shinde are not alone, as this has become a reality and a bitter thought for millions of young people (15 to 30 years) across India. A recent report from The Print indicates that youth are 3 times less likely to find a job than the working sector. In a CMIE report, youth unemployment has worsened since 2018 ranging between 27% to 45% unemployment rate between late 2022 to early 2023 across India.
Many people have pointed towards state apathy for the rise in unemployment both from local regional governments and national governments that had initially pledged to stop the crisis back in 2013/2014. Several reports have traced little to no recruitment for jobs in the civil service, paper leaks of government and university exams due to faulty security within institutions and rampant impersonation in some localities, and also the lack of job creation from diversion of investing in public sectors and safety nets to private sectors. Many also focus on failure of policy and allocation of investment with more being dedicated to manufacturing with the former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan in a recent interview stating how manufacturing has produced little gain not just in value but also made a point in the little gains in job and employment creation. Companies do indeed create jobs, but they also take into consideration productivity, value, and also efficiency, and that would mean the number of jobs would not be as huge as many individuals may imagine.
With the attractiveness of the civil service with lifetime employment, many youths have often crowded to take multiple papers such as UPSC and public service exams, but have often found themselves trapped from paper leaks and overcrowding of exam applications, these exam leaks with their consequences have attracted the criticism of many politicians. Even within the private sector, youth unemployment has been present from abusive work environments in skilled labour and even testimonies from netizens being underpaid leading to a significant impact on their mental health. With Billionaires like Narayan Murthy recently having an advocacy about increasing productivity, many critics raise eyebrows if they should expect predation of working conditions and labour laws in the private sector that may potentially de-incentivise individuals from pursuing careers in the growing private sector of India.
From these circumstances, it is clear from rural to urban areas, and from public to private sectors, there needs to be strong institutional reforms which can be dedicated respectively into utilising youth based by skill, and investing in the civil service and strong labour laws to give youth more secure examinations and options of employment. Such mechanisms from these areas can establish or strengthen already established safety nets for youth in India where all can have a fair chance to a decent living and also earn an income. Through a population and civil service based approach towards a problem like youth unemployment, there be expectation of potential change and can rest many assured that what happened in parliament will not be a predecessor to a more catastrophic event. Picture Credits; https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2018/09/24/Unemployment-lack-of-education-biggest-worries-plaguing-Indian-youth-study.html
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