But beside this, candidates have their reasons for applying. In between there are graduates, postgraduates, engineers, MBAs and others. It mentioned that there were 368 posts of anusevaks (peons) and farrash (janitors or floor cleaners) in the Secretariat Services.
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The notification released on August 11 by the UP government had invited candidates who had passed Class 5 and fall in the age group of 18-40 years for 368 posts of peon.
But perhaps the most attractive part was the pay scale. Senior administrative officer Prabhat Mittal said Friday, September 19, 2015, that the government will conduct a written exam to screen the applicants because interviewing them all would take four years.
India’s economic growth could overtake China’s this year, but providing enough high quality jobs continues to be a struggle. Out of such 23 lakh applications received, 255 were identified as the PhD holders, which put even the officials and also the country in shock.
Alok Chaurasia has a degree in electronics and communication engineering.
Officials believe soon, the staff sitting on benches outside government offices, waiting to deliver files or fetch water, could be people who have doctorates in history, philosophy or psychology.
“The number of post graduates is 24,969 while at least 1.5 lakh graduates have applied for the peon job”, said the official. The Minister for Skill Development Abhishek Mishra was quoted by a television channel as saying that it was because the “Government is a better paymaster”. “Only 53,000 of the applicants are fifth pass and about 20 lakh candidates have completed their school education”, he said.
Many engineering graduates and masters degrees holders who have sought the jobs as peons said to local newspapers and TV channels that a secured government job adds stability to life. This, according to him, more than made up for the low-level post and job description.
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Uttar Pradesh is plagued by unemployment – with tens of millions out of work in the state, which is home to 215million people.
