Digital Rozgar Mela.

 On 12 July, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi distributed over 51,000 appointment letters to newly appointed youth in various government departments and organisations via video conferencing at the 16th edition of Rozgar Mela (employment fair)." ET. In April, PM Modi "distributed 51,236 appointment letters to newly-recruited candidates in central government departments and organisations as part of the 15th Rozgar Mela. The event was held virtually and coordinated across 47 locations nationwide." NDTV. Why is this such an enormous publicity opportunity for Mr Modi? Because, in September 2024, "In Haryana, over 166,000 candidates, including more than 6,000 postgraduates and nearly 40,000 graduates, have applied for the position of sweeper in government departments, boards, corporations, and civic bodies, offering a salary of Rs 15,000 (about $175) per month. ET. The reason is that these positions are a kind of gift to keep people happy. Performance and efficiency are optional. For example, in 2022, three municipal corporations in the capital city Delhi had a total of 60,000 sanitation workers. TIE. And yet, Delhi is extremely dirty with rubbish strewn everywhere and cows and feral dogs rummaging for food in the rubbish tips. "The youth, or those between the ages of 15 and 29 years, make up 27% of the total population, thus representing a vast potential workforce. Yet, this is the very segment facing an acute crisis of high unemployment, low employability and widespread under-utilization." "According to the India Employment Report 2024, the youth make up 83% of the total unemployed." At the same time, "The coexistence of high unemployment among educated job-seekers and an acute shortage of skilled candidates expressed by industry is a severe indictment of the country's higher education system," wrote Ajit Ranade. "Our most telling finding was that for so many of our respondents, the aspiration was a government job, a coveted position of stability and security," reported a study by Prof Mathangi Krishnamurthy & Ms Rama Bijapurkar. "They are eschewing the full depth and breadth of possibilities that new India offers for them to aspire to, replacing it with the self-inflicted myopia of bonsai dreams and perfectly stable lives." This is not as myopic as the authors think because, "India's largest IT exporter and private-sector employer, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has decided to lay off around 2% of its workforce, roughly 12,000 employees," because of "a skill mismatch and lack of deployment feasibility for certain roles." ET. With such high rates of unemployment, losing jobs must be devastating. No wonder, a study by MediBuddy showed that "70% of employees are carrying at least one lifestyle-related health risk." Most alarming, "Non-communicable diseases now account for 63% of all deaths in India, with heart disease, diabetes and stroke impacting the workforce at median ages of 32, 34 and 36 respectively." ET. Since performance is not a necessity for government jobs, "stability and security" are assured. That, in India, is more valued and coveted than a high paying position in the private sector with the threat of sudden termination. Rozgar Mela: how to milk unemployed misery for free publicity. Taxpayer pays.