KOLKATA: In what exhibits the state of unemployment in West Bengal, some 18 lakh aspirants applied for only 6,000 Group D posts in a government-recruitment drive held recently. However, only 5,400 of them have reportedly qualified the examination.
The move to recruit 6,000 people in Group D posts was declared by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in 2015. However, due to inability of filling all the 6,000 posts, the West Bengal Group D Recruitment Board is considering reducing the cut-off mark to fill up all the 6,000 posts, sources revealed. The final results are yet to be declared.
Showcasing the case of educated unemployed in the state, though the educational requirement for the Group D post - which salary of Rs 11,000 per month - was Class 8, 3.5 lakh applicants or about 20% of the applicants had a Masters' degree.
The written test had 85 one-mark questions from Class VIII Maths, Science, History, Geography and General Knowledge and 19,450 candidates were called for the 15-mark interview. In the interview, the cut-off mark for OBCs was 4.5 while it was 3.75 for SCs and 3 for STs. However, other than General and SC candidates, the quotas in the other reserved categories went unfulfilled, sources revealed.