HYDERABAD/NALGONDA: It is said that good things will come to those who wait and work hard. Kishan has been waiting for a call letter from the employment exchange for nearly three decades but to no avail.
It was way back in 1987 that G Kishan, who is now 45, got himself enrolled in the Nalgonda district employment exchange. He completed SSC that year and registered with the employment exchange hoping to get a government job, sooner or later.
It’s almost three decades and Kishan’s son has grown up. Luckily, his son got recruited by a software firm but Kishan’s long wait continues!
Kishan, who hails from Nalgonda town, continued his studies clearing Intermediate, degree and also post graduation. He never failed to get his resume upgraded in the employment exchange. “But I did not receive a single call letter from the employment exchange till date,” Kishan told Express.
Now Kishan is a shattered man and he feels like thousands of other unfortunate job seekers that all his years of toil has gone down the drain.“My son got a job but I didn’t,” he rued.
This is not the story of Kishan alone. Lakhs of job seekers have been waiting for the job call letter for years. Little do they realise that the letter seldom comes.
A cursory look at the performance of employment exchanges in the state will reveal a dismal picture. The latest figures available from the department of Employment and Training reveal a staggeringly low placement scenario through out the the state.
While close to 2 lakh unemployed persons (1,98,002 to be precise) have registered themselves with 20 employment exchanges across the state in 2015 alone, only 503 got placement as per the official figures available. The total number of unemployed persons registered with the exchanges stood at 10,04,978 as on December 2015. Only 1,169 candidates have got jobs in government service after the formation of the state.
While admitting that employment exchanges have largely become redundant, officials claim that a lot is being planned for its revival.
“Job seekers continue to register with the employment exchanges but we can sponsor only class-IV jobs and jobs on compassionate grounds in the public sector. We contact private employers and conduct job melas,” said an official at the headquarters.
“We are maintaining the registry of job seekers and renewing it annually. We maintain the employment market information and provide vocational guidance to job seekers. Whenever a department seeks candidates, we sponsor them,” said KV Naik, director, department of Employment and Training.