Telangana: Suicides by unemployed youth

By M. Kodanda Ram

Mohammed Shabbir a 26-year-old graduate from Jammikunta town, Karimnagar district has committed suicide on 1st August 2021, leaving behind his wife and a child. In his suicide note, he said, “unemployment is the main reason for my death.” In the year 2021 along with Shabbir another eighteen unemployed youth have committed suicide. Among them is Shabbir’s wife. Unable to bear the loss of her husband she too committed suicide a month later.  Out of the 18 youth who committed suicide, four have written detailed suicide notes like Shabbir. All of them are of similar nature. They all had a common dream – to get a job, preferably a government job, which gives them entry into a modern sector.

Government job has a lot of attractions. It not only elevates their economic position but also ensures participation in the administration and above all a sense of security. In the perception of these unemployed youth, government job is a way out of poverty, marginalization and social exclusion.

All those who committed suicide have a similar socio-economic background. Details about their socio-economic condition are available in the suicide notes. We spoke with the friends and family members seven of those who committed suicide. They gave us a profile of the deceased. Some information is culled out from the newspapers. The deceased are from poor families and belong to SC, ST, BC minority communities. Shabbir’s father is a petty trader – he sells toys in the local markets particularly during the mela’s, exhibitions. Kondal who also died in similar circumstances belongs to a migrant labor community. Boda Sunil naik, Kasoju Ganesha Chari belonged to a small farmer family. And Asampelli Mahesh hailed from agricultural labor family. The profile of the others who committed suicide is similar.

The suicide notes indicate that the deceased have pride in their educational qualifications. They worked hard to complete their education with good grades despite the financial hardships. And that they have been preparing for the civil service examination diligently. However, all their efforts have gone in vain as the state government has not advertised any posts. They have made strenuous efforts to find jobs in the private sector. Due to covid the private enterprises/institutions did not function. Leave alone recruiting new workers they hardly managed to pay the salaries to the existing workers. In this situation, the deceased depended on their parents to fulfill their basic needs which they felt was an embarrassment. Instead of supporting the parents in their old age, they felt bad that they had to depend on them. They cursed their inability to liberate the parents from drudgery. It is evident from the suicide notes that youth is unable to resolve these issues and find a way forward. Suicide is seen as the only path to escape from this reality over which they have no control at all. The tragedy is that in state for which they sacrificed their life death has become the only option. The State is not able to offer livelihood to live with dignity. Even the unemployment allowance promised by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi in the 2018 Assembly elections is not honored after assuming power.

It is only the private sector institute, or a government agency can offer jobs in the modern sector. Yet the irony is that we do not see unemployment as a social issue. There is a widespread perception that it is the responsibility of the individual person to find a job. It should be underscored that individuals cannot create jobs. Jobs are invariably created through collective effort both in the private sector as well as in the public sector. In this process, the governments play a major role. Without recognizing the role of the government in the generation of employment, it is not possible to come to an understanding about the way out of the present crisis.

In Telangana state, about 26 percent of the population above 15 years has acquired a degree certificate. However, they are not able to find meaningful employment. They are settling down for low paid jobs, which do not require skills. About 75 percent of our workers are engaged in such sectors where the salaries/incomes are low. The table below gives the details of the sectoral distribution of workers.

Though 43.56 per cent workers are engaged in agriculture the share of agriculture in the state GSDP is just 13.54 per cent. A large chunk of our workers get only a tiny share of the wealth produced. The service sector accounts for 65.2 per cent of the wealth. However, in this sector, most people are employed as sweepers, security guards, drivers through contractors. The salaries of these contract workers are exceptionally low. The well-paid executive posts in private institutions are filled on an all-India basis. Proficiency in English is one of the criteria to find a well-paid job in the private sector. Most of the graduates from rural areas have studied through Telegu medium. There are very few locals in these positions. The real estate sector contributes 22 percent of the state gross domestic production. However, it has limited employment potentiality. Along with education and administration, it accounts for 9.38 percent of employment. Another important facet needs to be highlighted. Nearly 75 percent of our workers are either self-employed or daily wage labor whose earnings are not stable. Nearly two-thirds of self-employed workers assist their families.

The unemployment rate has grown out of proportions in India in general more particularly in Telangana. Telangana has its own specificity. Young boys and girls fought for the Telangana state with the hope that jobs will be generated after the state is created. Nearly 650 youth sacrificed their lives to exert pressure on the Central Government to realize statehood demand. The grim reality is that they are unable to find meaningful employment in the newly formed state. The unemployment rate has increased by three-fold after the formation of the state according to the data collected through periodic labor force survey by the department of labor of the Union Government. The following table gives the unemployment rate among the population aged above 15 years in the state belonging to different categories of workers.

The rate of unemployment is much higher among the educated segments of society. The table given below has the details of the unemployment rate among 15 years and above population category with a diploma and above educational qualification.

The above tables indicate that the government has not done anything to generate employment after the state formation. On the contrary unemployment rate has increased. Even the existing vacancies in the government offices have not been filled up. As a result, many departments have not been able to discharge their functions efficiently. Hospitals, revenue administration, colleges and schools have many vacancies. These departments provide basic services. More than half of the teaching positions are vacant in the universities. The vacancies in some of the departments can be seen in the table given below.

With nearly fifty percent vacancies, these departments are not able to provide services to the citizens at an optimal level.

According to the pay revision committee appointed by the state government, 1,91,126 posts in the government are vacant. No steps are taken to fill up these vacancies. In 2014 Chief Minister announced on the floor of the Assembly that 1,07,744 government jobs will be filled-up in three years. So far the government has recruited only 79,393 posts. Out of this, there are about 9355 panchayat secretary posts were created after the Chief Minister’s statement. They were not part of the 1,07,744 posts announced by the Chief Minister. The declaration made in the House is not implemented. This shows the government’s callous attitude towards the employment issue.

During the Covid period, the unemployment situation further worsened. About three lakh teachers and lecturers in private educational institutions lost their jobs. Similarly, government removed 75,000 contract and outsourcing employees. All of them had to earn a living either as daily wage workers or as petty traders. Though corona subsided and educational institutions reopened they have not reemployed all the retrenched staff. So is the case with the government contract and outsourcing employees. Those removed are not yet reinstated.

The government is indulging in misinformation campaigns to cover up deficiencies in its actions. To begin with they are giving wrong figures about the recruitment. In all the government says that it has filled-up about 1,31,000 posts. The list released by the government includes promotees and regularized contract workers in the public sector undertakings. Public sector undertakings are not part of the government departments. They are autonomous bodies. Now they are trying to reduce the vacancies. Disregarding the pay revision committee report government says that there are only 60,000 vacancies after the completion of the recruitment mentioned above.

Similarly, the government says that about twenty lakh new jobs are created in the industrial sector after the birth of the state. The announcement made by the industries minister in assembly is also a lie. The facts provided by the economic survey report released by the government give a different picture. In the year 2014, there were about 11,068 companies in Telangana which employed in all 7,45,000 workers. According to the economic survey report placed before the Assembly, 4195 new companies came up by 2017-18. They created an additional 50,000 jobs.  In 2020 government stated in the economic survey report that an additional 4825 companies were started in the state after 2017-18. That takes the tally of the new companies in the state after 2014 to 9020. Of these 4314 companies are real estate companies, granite companies and agro-processing units. These companies by any stretch of imagination cannot create 20 lakh new jobs. While government documents say that by 2017-18 with 4195 new companies only 50,000 jobs were created. It is difficult to believe that the additional 4314 companies would create twenty lakh jobs. With such farfetched arguments government is trying to create a rosy picture about the employment situation in the state. Only in IT sector 2,10,352 new jobs are added between 2014-15 and 2019-20. However, recruitment in the IT sector is on an all-India basis. The local people get only a few jobs in this sector.

Civil society groups have been proposing solutions to the problem which the government has not considered at all. They suggested the following measures to address the unemployment issue: 1. All the vacancies in the government and autonomous bodies should be filled according to a calendar. 2. Up to supervisory category all the jobs in the private sector and public enterprises should be filled with locals only. 3. Government should encourage small and tiny industries that create more jobs than the big companies. 4. Required skills should be imparted to the youth through skill-oriented programmes designed by a technical council consisting of scientists, technicians and industrialists. Such programs should be offered through industrial training institutes, Polytechnique, engineering colleges only. 5. Unemployment allowance should be paid to all the unemployed youth. Instead of opening a dialogue on these proposals, the government arrested civil society groups taking up the issue. The unemployment issue cannot be postponed any longer. It needs to be addressed on a priority basis. Government must recognize that job is not merely an economic necessity. In our society, it is a way out of oppression and marginalization. It is a crucial step to participate in social and political life with dignity and respect. To create equal opportunities for all the sections of the society was the dream of constitution-makers. As Jawaharlal Nehru stated while introducing the objectives resolution in the Constituent Assembly that the primary aim of the Constitution is to transform India into a modern society where irrespective of caste, creed, gender, social position, and economic status all individuals will get equal opportunity to secure development of their personality. Employment policy must be drafted from this perspective.