New Delhi - More than 19 000 people have applied for 114 positions as sweepers in a northern Indian town, with many candidates being post-graduates and MBAs, officials said on Friday.
High levels of unemployment in India have driven even some well-trained people to seek any kind of job, with the sweepers’ job considered among the lowest professions in India.
The hierarchical Hindu caste system considers it a “degrading or polluting” occupation that is done by the lowest-ranked Dalit castes.
“Of about 6 000 applications we have seen so far, many are graduates in arts and sciences, post-graduates, even engineering graduates and MBAs,” said Amroha municipal superintendent Faiz Alam.
“It shows the levels of unemployment,” he said.
Senior city official Prem Prakash said the positions have no educational requirement because the work involves sweeping streets with brooms and maintaining sewer lines. The monthly salary is 17 000 rupees (250 dollars).
Thousands of qualified youths were still waiting for interview calls, the Times of India daily reported.
“I have been jobless since I finished college in 2014. So when I heard about openings as sweepers, I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to earn a living and help my family,” mathematics graduate Nakul Singh told the paper.
A recent study by the Hindu newspaper showed that 10 million Indians with undergraduate, post-graduate and technical degrees were unemployed.
India’s official unemployment rate grew from 6.8 percent in 2001 to 9.6 percent in 2011, a period in which the Indian economy recorded its highest economic growth.
DPA