Former Haryana finance minister and INLD national patron Prof Sampat Singh has expressed deep concern over the rising underemployment among highly educated youth in the state, citing a recruitment exam for a sweeper post at Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (LUVAS) in Hisar where many candidates with postgraduate and M.Phil. degrees applied.
Postgraduates Vie for Sweeper Post at LUVAS
Singh noted that the recruitment exam for the ‘safai karamchari’ (sweeper) position, held on Saturday, attracted applicants holding M.A., M.Sc., MBA, M.Phil., and other advanced degrees. The post requires only an eighth-grade qualification, highlighting a severe mismatch between academic achievement and available employment opportunities.
Addressing a meeting at Nehla village, the INLD leader said that when educated youth are forced to apply for jobs far below their qualification levels, it indicates not just unemployment but a serious problem of underemployment. “This leads to a waste of talent and renders the social and economic investment made in education ineffective,” he said.
Alarming Trend of Underemployment
Singh pointed out that Haryana has produced a large number of graduates, postgraduates, and professionally qualified youth, but job opportunities have not kept pace with their qualifications. As a result, lakhs of educated youth are compelled to apply for positions such as peons, watchmen, and sanitation workers, primarily to secure the stability of a government job.
He warned that the continuing rise in unemployment and underemployment among educated youth could lead to frustration, migration, reduced productivity, and growing social discontent. “Families invest heavily in higher education with the hope that their children will secure better employment and a respectable life, but the lack of suitable opportunities is creating disappointment and despair among the younger generation,” Singh said.
Call for Comprehensive Employment Policy
The former minister urged the state government to formulate a comprehensive and long-term employment policy. He emphasized the need to create new job opportunities in industry, the service sector, agriculture-based enterprises, and emerging technology sectors. Singh also called for timely filling of vacant government posts and strengthening of skill-based employment programs.
Singh’s remarks come amid growing concerns over the economic and social conditions in Haryana, where educated youth are increasingly competing for low-skilled government jobs, reflecting a broader crisis in the state’s labor market.
