Over 3,200 Compete for Just 100 Local Defense Volunteer Positions in India
In a region of Odisha in eastern India, more than 3,200 people took a written exam to compete for around 100 temporary police auxiliary positions. The daily wage for this job is 9,900 won. The high number of highly educated applicants revealed the severity of the local job crisis.
According to foreign media reports on the 29th, Indian broadcaster NDTV reported on the scene of the written recruitment exam for local defense volunteers held the previous day at the paramilitary battalion grounds in Jharsuguda, Odisha. The recruitment was for 102 local defense volunteers, a temporary police auxiliary position with a daily wage of 623 rupees (about 9,900 won).
The authorities will select 1,010 candidates from the written exam, then conduct a physical fitness test before choosing the final successful applicants. Initially, 4,040 people submitted applications, and more than 3,200 appeared for the exam.
The competition rate, based on the number of applicants, was about 40 to 1, and anyone who completed the fifth grade of elementary school was eligible to apply. Nevertheless, a large number of highly educated candidates, including university graduates, those who have completed or graduated from graduate programs, and holders of technical certificates, applied. Some examinees commented that, rather than building up their careers, they were seeking economic survival, highlighting the immense pressure on highly educated young people to secure a means of livelihood.
The situation is similar in other parts of Odisha. On the 16th, in Sambalpur, more than 8,000 people competed for 187 local defense volunteer positions.
Although the minimum educational requirement was graduation from the fifth grade of elementary school, many candidates at the test site held master's and doctoral degrees, were engineers, or had completed government industrial training. Local authorities had to deploy surveillance drones to maintain order and prevent cheating.
Due to the unexpectedly large number of candidates, they had to sit in rows on an airplane runway to take the exam. This unusual scene went viral on social media, attracting a surge in views.
Last month, workers opposing the implementation of the new labor law in New Delhi. EPA Yonhap News archive photo
In Rourkela as well, nearly 9,000 people recently took the local defense volunteer exam for 202 positions, with many highly educated applicants participating.
Experts and job seekers said that administrative authorities must urgently take measures such as more actively creating jobs in the public and private sectors and shortening recruitment cycles.
Meanwhile, last month, when the Indian federal government began enforcing a new labor law, labor unions protested, arguing that the law favors employers by making it easier to dismiss workers. The new labor law, which passed the federal parliament five years ago, allows companies with 300 or fewer employees to lay off workers without prior government approval and to sign fixed-term employment contracts.
The new labor law also includes provisions to set a national minimum wage and to extend social security coverage to gig workers, including delivery workers and other ultra-short-term temporary employees.
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