Govt job rush: in 8 years, 22 crore applied, only 7.22 lakh were selected
The rush for government jobs continued unabated over the last eight years but less than 1 per cent of applications received were selected. Of the 22.05 crore applications received from 2014-15 to 2021-22, only 7.22 lakh or 0.33 per cent, were recommended for appointment in different Central government departments, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
In a written reply, Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, informed the Lok Sabha that the maximum number of candidates — 1.47 lakh — recommended for appointment was in 2019-20, the year before the full outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The year, which also saw elections to the Lok Sabha, accounted for a little more than 20 per cent of the total 7.22 lakh selected during the eight years.
The broad trend suggests that the number of candidates selected for government jobs has been declining since 2014-15, with 2019-20 being the only exception. In 2014-15, 1.30 lakh candidates were recommended for appointment but the number dropped continuously in the following years — 1.11 lakh in 2015-16; 1.01 lakh in 2016-17; 76,147 in 2017-18; 38,100 in 2018-19, 78,555 in 2020-21 and 38,850 in 2021-22.
While only 7.22 lakh candidates were selected for appointment in the last eight years, the Centre had on June 14 this year announced it would recruit 10 lakh people in “mission mode” over the next 18 months. The announcement was made by the Prime Minister’s Office after PM Narendra Modi “reviewed the status of Human Resources in all departments and ministries.”
The information provided by Singh also shows that a total number of 22.05 crore applications were received since 2014. The maximum applications (5.09 crore) were received in 2018-19, and the least – 1.80 crore – in 2020-21.
An analysis of the data shows that against an annual average of 2.75 crore applications received over the eight years, 90,288 candidates were selected on an average every year. The proportion of candidates selected from the number of applications received during the eight years was in the range of 0.07 per cent to 0.80 per cent.
Listing various initiatives to create jobs in his reply to the question by Anumula Revanth Reddy, Congress MP from Telangana, Singh said, “Employment generation coupled with improving employability is the priority of the Government. Accordingly, the Government of India has taken various steps for generating employment in the country.”
“Budget 2021-22 launched Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes, with an outlay of Rs. 1.97 lakh crore, for a period of 5 years starting from 2021-22. The PLI Schemes being implemented by the Government have potential for creating 60 lakh new jobs… The Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) is being implemented by the Government for facilitating self-employment. Under PMMY, collateral free loans up to Rs 10 lakh, are extended to micro/ small business enterprises and to individuals to enable them to set up or expand their business activities,” he said.
The other schemes listed by Singh include the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi launched on June 1, 2020, to facilitate collateral free working capital loan to street vendors to restart their businesses, the AtmaNirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY) launched on October 1, 2020, to incentivise employers for creation of new jobs and restoration of jobs lost during the Covid-19 pandemic. As on July 13 this year, there were 59.54 lakh ABRY beneficiaries, he said.
Besides these, various flagship programmes such as Make in India, Start-up India, Digital India, Smart City Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme, MGNREGS, Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana, Deen Dayal Antodaya Yojana National Urban Livelihoods Mission, etc. are also oriented towards generating employment opportunities, he said.
