Bhopal:
The Madhya Pradesh government’s approach to renaming has now extended beyond roads and districts to unemployment. The state has decided that unemployed youth will now be referred to as “Aspirational Youth”.
This renaming, however, has sparked debate, with critics calling it an attempt to mask the ongoing job crisis.
Prakash Sen from Bhopal completed his BSc in Computer Science with dreams of working at a tech giant like Google or Facebook. Instead, he found himself running a tea stall.
“I studied computer science, hoping to get a good IT job. But there is tough competition in the field, and after the lockdown, many people lost their jobs,” he said.
Similarly, Aryan Srivastava, who has a BSc degree in Agriculture, had hoped to contribute to India’s agricultural sector. He, however, found himself stuck in the job-seeking cycle.
“There were no placements in my college. I thought my background in agriculture would provide me with opportunities, but there are fewer government vacancies. Even when there are openings, paper leaks ruin everything,” he says.
Many students and job seekers have been left frustrated by the lack of opportunities and frequent delays in recruitment. Shailendra Mishra has already spent Rs 30,000 on application fees, books, and other expenses while preparing for government exams. Sonali Patel has been waiting for police recruitment results since 2019, but the outcome remains uncertain.
The state government maintains that the job situation is not as dire as it seems.
According to official records, in July 2023, Madhya Pradesh had 25.82 lakh unemployed individuals. By December, the number had gone up to 26.17 lakh.
Now, instead of acknowledging an increase, the government has rebranded these individuals as “Aspirational Youth”, whose number extend to 29.36 lakh.
Between 2020 and 2024, 2,709 job fairs were organised, resulting in 3.22 lakh offer letters being issued. The government, though, has not disclosed how many candidates actually joined jobs.
Madhya Pradesh Skill Development Minister Gautam Tetwal defended the new term.
“The number of unemployed people registered in employment offices is different from the actual count. If a son works at his father’s shop and is registered in an employment office, he is not unemployed. A person earning less than Rs 12,646 per month without steady work can be considered unemployed, but that is not the situation in Madhya Pradesh,” he said.
Congress MLA Pratap Grewal criticised the government’s approach, alleging that the renaming was an attempt to manipulate statistics.
“The government previously reported 33 lakh unemployed people in July. Now, it avoids sharing actual figures, fearing backlash. Instead of solving the crisis, they are simply renaming it,” he said.
