Unemployed youth to hold Maha Dharna in Hyderabad over job promises

Unemployed youth have called for a Maha Dharna in Hyderabad, accusing the Telangana Congress government of failing to honour its promise of filling two lakh jobs within a year. They also demanded recruitment notifications, a fresh job calendar and unemployment allowance

Hyderabad: Feeling betrayed by the Telangana Congress government’s failure to honour its assurance of filling two lakh vacancies, unemployed youth have called for a Maha Dharna at Dharna Chowk here on Wednesday.

Ahead of the last Assembly elections, the Congress party had assured unemployed youth that two lakh government jobs would be filled within one year of coming to power. The promise was actively highlighted during the campaign, with unemployed youth leaders being mobilised and a bus yatra conducted as part of the outreach.

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During the campaign at Ashok Nagar, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had sought the support of unemployed youth and posted, “Our job calendar is the first step in easing their pain. We will ensure two lakh govt jobs in one year. Revamp of TSPSC on UPSC lines and Yuva Vikasam, Rs.5 lakh assistance. The future of our youth is secure in the hands of Congress Prajala Sarkar, this is my guarantee.”

While Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu released the job calendar for 2024–25 in the Legislative Assembly on August 2, 2024, no recruitment notifications were issued as per the calendar. In fact, no fresh recruitment notification has been issued by the government since it came to power more than two years ago.

Additionally, the Congress had promised a monthly unemployment allowance of Rs.4,000 to every unemployed youth until they secured government jobs. So far, neither recruitment notifications nor the unemployment allowance have materialised.

Adding to the growing frustration was a recent statement by IT Minister D Sridhar Babu in the Legislative Council that employment opportunities in the government sector alone would not be possible.

Further, in a recent interview, TPCC working president Mahesh Kumar Goud claimed that the assurance to provide two lakh jobs was meant to be fulfilled over a five-year term. When he later stated that the government would provide two lakh jobs in three years, the interviewer pointed out that the promise was to deliver them within the first year. Goud denied the commitment, though it is clearly mentioned in the Congress manifesto.

“Mahesh Kumar Goud can deny it, but not the Congress manifesto and the advertisements released by the party during the elections. We have documented all those assurances. We will continue our fight until our demands are met, and accordingly, we have called for a Maha Dharna on Wednesday,” said Indra Nayak, an unemployed youth leader.

The unemployed youth demanded that the government issue notifications to fill two lakh vacancies, announce a mega District Selection Committee, fill vacant teacher posts and release a fresh job calendar. They also sought an unemployment allowance of Rs.4,000 for nearly 30 lakh unemployed youth in the State.