Uttar Pradesh: Unemployment forces 255 doctorate holders to apply for peons' post

The lack of employment in Uttar Pradesh has now probably soared beyond imagination. Among the many graduates and post graduates who have applied for peons' posts in the Uttar Pradesh government secretariat, there are 255 PhDs as well.

A record of sort was created after the UP government, which advertised for 368 posts of peons in the Secretariat, got 23 lakh responses.

Read more: Shocker: UP secretariat receives 23 lakh applications for 368 peon posts

What is extremely unfortunate is that the minimum qualification for the post of a peon is that the applicant should have at least cleared class five and should be able to ride a bicycle. However, soaring unemployment has forced even those with a PhD to apply for this job.

Of the total 368 posts, 268 are for the general category and the rest are for SC, ST and other reserved categories in the age group of 18 to 40 years.

"When we categorised the applications viz a viz a qualification, we were surprised to find that 255 applicants have a doctorate," a senior secretariat administration official said.

And the applicants are...

• More than 1.5 lakh graduates have applied for the job.

• The number of post graduate applicants is 24,969.

• More than 7.5 lakh of the applicants have cleared Class 12.

• High school or equivalent pass outs comprise the maximum numbers with more than 11.21 lakh applicants.

• The number of applicants who have cleared Class five is 53,426.