Lack of jobs common concern but identity politics may swing results
MATHURA/HATHRAS/FIROZABAD: Unease and uncertainty about their future is what binds Anoop Sharma, an ardent supporter of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Vrindavan and Firozabad resident, Gambhir Singh who swears by the Samajwadi Party. Both men are in their 20s, college graduates, and with jobs that can barely provide for them. They voice the same concerns about lack of opportunities for young people, even as they find themselves at different ends of the political spectrum.
In poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, expectations are the binder where political preferences and religious sentiments create a schism.
Expectations of a better job, a better life and better living conditions are on the top of every young person’s wish list, irrespective of which political ideology or party they support. “I graduated from college and work as the munim (accountant) at the mandi. This job neither provides for my family, nor is it appropriate given my education. I also have a B.Ed degree and for the last three years have been taking the exam for a teacher’s job, but results are either held up or positions not filled. What I know is that this is not what a pada-likha (educated) should be doing,” Singh says, in between counting notes and making entries in a log book.
In Vrindavan, Sharma and a bunch of men with sandalwood smeared on their foreheads compete to offer services as guides at the local Bankey Bihar Temple, a big draw for pilgrims from all over. The guides are, like guides elsewhere in the world, persistent and persuasive. But, with Covidimposed restrictions on travel, which has significantly reduced the number of visitors, their jobs have become harder.
“Pre-Covid we could at least make ₹500-600 (a day), which was enough to feed the family. Now there are days when we don’t take home even a penny, because there are fewer visitors and too many guides,” says Sharma who took up the profession soon after college because there was no other job.
“We have petitioned the government to streamline the process of allowing guides to operate in the temple-town. There are over 2,000 guides in Mathura, Vrindavan, Barsana and Gokul and none have a licence. Anyone can claim to be a guide now. How will we, who have spent about 10 years as guides, ensure we are not out of jobs,” he adds. Sharma says even sustenance would have been hard had it not been for the free ration that the state government started giving when the pandemic hit.
Migration
There is widespread resentment among young people in the state over the lack of jobs. Many blame the government for not creating jobs, and complain that by putting the onus of becoming job creators on young people, policy makers have shifted their responsibility to the people.
“The government keeps saying palayan ruka, palayan hua (migration happened and migration stopped), the real reason for palayan (migration) is the absence of jobs. Government jobs are too few and far in between; private jobs are low-paying, there used to be recruitment in the armed forces but even that hasn’t happened in the last three years,” says a farmer in Maat town of Mathura.
The farmer who did not wish to be identified said he took loans to educate his two sons at the ITI (industrial training institute), but they are without jobs, because the government arbitrarily chose B.Tech graduates as instructors instead of ITI graduates. “They were supposed to pick two B.Tech graduates and four ITI ones, but they opted only for the B.Tech ones, the matter is now in court and young men, without jobs.”
In Mathura, proximity to the national capital and to industrialised Haryana has given local youth a better chance to find gainful employment. Groups of local residents who spoke to HT underlined the absence of industry as a main grievance. The elderly pin their hopes on upcoming projects to stem migration so that families are not torn apart. “Most families have small land holdings, what they earn is not sufficient. Economy here is primarily driven by agri-incomes. We heard (CM) Yogi promising 1,500 jobs at the Pepsi factory (PepsiCo plant in Kosi Kalan) and that we would get better remuneration for our potato crop. We want mills and factories so that our children can come back,” says Raghu Raj Singh, a retired employee of the state government.
Government claims vs fears of privatisation
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath while addressing the annual general meeting of the Indian Chamber of Commerce in November last year claimed that the unemployment rate, which was around 18 % five years ago has now come down to 4%. As per data from Centre For Monitoring Indian Economy or CMIE, as of January 2022, the unemployment rate in the state is 4.9% but there is no data to validate that during the five years preceding the Yogi government’s the figure was around 18%.
Jobs, ease of doing business and attracting investment to the state are the Yogi government’s top claims and figure prominently in the campaign material. The government claims nearly 2.8 million jobs were created in just two years through private investment; employment for 26 million people was generated in MSMEs; that UP’s Start Up Policy 2017 created jobs for 500,000 young people; and that investment in the state has doubled from ₹4.22 lakh crore in 2015 to ₹8.07 lakh crore in March 2020.
These claims, however, don’t cut ice.
In Hathras, where the gruesome rape of a 20-year-old Dalit woman, who was also hurriedly cremated, sent shockwaves, there is palpable anger over plans that are afoot to privatise services and increasingly hire on contract.
“The government does not even have the money to change the tyres on the buses and because the roads are in such bad condition there is more wear and tear. The passengers curse us. Nobody has a clue how hard we work and under what strenuous conditions. On top of everything else, there is the sword of privatisation and job cuts hanging over our heads,” says Ajay Singh, a conductor with the UP State Road Transport Corporation.
Singh says he got the job on compassionate grounds. “The government is keen on getting this (the transport firm) off their hands. The last time they found no bidders, but this time they will sell it by hook or by crook and then we will be at the mercy of the private companies,” he says.
The union of UPSRTC has made several representations to the state government demanding regularisation of services of those employed on contractual terms.
Singh‘s colleague Ram Singh who is a driver employed on contract says that for 24 days of work he is paid ₹15,000 which is woefully inadequate. “Is the free ration that the Yogi government giving us all we need? Don’t we need to send us kids to school? To pay for the healthcare? While states like Haryana and Rajasthan have regularised the services of drivers and conductors UP continues to remain apathetic to our problems.”
Caste and religious identity While there is concern over lack of employment avenues and anger over political parties prioritizing religious identity over livelihood, there is enough indication that electoral choices will be made on issues that definitely include the latter. “I moved to Panipat (in the neighbouring Haryana). After demonetisation and Covid both of which resulted in job cuts there isn’t enough to do here, but when I come home, I think the Yogi government has done a lot for restoring the Hindu pride,” says Anoop Sharma in Vrindavan. In Firozabad and Mathura too, the overall sentiment about the economy and employment is offset by religious and caste considerations.