India is getting ready for the start of the world's biggest parliamentary elections. Job opportunities are crucial, especially for the youth, among nearly 1 billion voters.
Because of the huge number of voters, which is 969 million, voting cannot happen all at once. Instead, it happens over seven phases in more than six weeks. Over 15 million officials, police officers, and soldiers will oversee the operation of over 1 million polling stations.
With 2660 registered parties competing for seats in 543 areas across the country, campaign spending is expected to reach about 13.5 billion euros in total.
Over 65 percent of India's population is under 35, and around 130 million young people aged 18 to 22 are eligible to vote for the first time. Both the ruling BJP, led by Prime Minister Modi, and major opposition parties have promised to deal with the issue of youth unemployment.
Even though Prime Minister Modi made promises in his past campaigns in 2014 and 2019, unemployment in India has stayed pretty much the same over the last decade, despite stable economic growth and a decrease in extreme poverty.
Official numbers are different from those of independent think tanks, but it's clear that unemployment is especially high among well-educated young people. At the same time, the proportion of self-employed people increases among less educated individuals, while the number of people with formal jobs and daily wages goes down.
Currently, over half of India's workforce is self-employed, often in low-paying and insecure jobs like street vending and small-scale farming. The lack of opportunities and low wages in the private sector push many young people to seek government jobs to escape uncertainty and poverty.
However, government jobs are highly competitive and few at all levels. For example, in Uttar Pradesh, 67,000 vacancies for new police officers attracted nearly 5 million applicants in February alone.
To enhance their chances, millions of young Indians enroll in special tutoring institutes to prepare for government job exams. Some persist for years in their pursuit, seeing no other good options.
Cities like Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh have turned into centers for rural youth seeking opportunities in these tutoring institutes, motivated by their aspirations and dreams.
