More than 10,000 persons appeared for the recruitment of 600 posts of Gram Rakshak Dal (Village Defence Force), leading to a chaotic situation prompting the police to use batons as crowds kept swelling at the recruitment site in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district.
A video of thousands of persons jostling and pushing one another went viral on social media raising questions about the extent of unemployment in the State.
The GRD is an honorary position where village youth are recruited to assist the police. It’s a contractual job with an honorarium of ₹230 per day for six days a week.
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The recruitment is on the basis of physical fitness while the minimum education level is third grade pass.
“The situation is similar in each district. In Banaskantha, more than 10,000 persons, most of them graduates, appeared to take the physical fitness test,” said Gujarat Congress spokesman Manish Doshi.
According to him, 35,000 candidates have applied for 6,700 home guards posts. Similarly, 12.5 lakh candidates have applied for 5,100 clerical posts for non secretariat and 9,35,000 for 10,469 vacancies of police constables.
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“There is a massive unemployment or underemployment despite all the tall claims of the BJP which has been in power since 1998,” Mr. Doshi said.
“The recent videos from Banaskantha depict the picture of Gujarat under the BJP Government. Several graduates and post-graduates were among the applicants, which shows an acute dearth of jobs or employment.”
The State Government has, however, not made any statement on the video.
Recently, the Gujarat Government has announced large-scale recruitment plans to fill up vacancies before the Assembly polls in December 2022.
As a result, almost four lakh persons have applied for 1,325 posts of SI or ASI, and 8.5 lakh persons for 8,000 LRD, who are gradually absorbed as police constables,