The unemployment rates in India are currently at their highest [1]. Everyone’s blaming the standing government for not creating enough opportunities. The situation is so dire that there are fewer jobs for people with higher degrees. [2]
The government hasn’t done enough for the increasingly growing workforce in India. If the current situation continues, India might end up with more crime, scams, and corruption. Yes, more than we are seeing now. Whaddya know! I tried looking for studies on the correlation between Crime and unemployment, while there are many that prove the positive correlation, most of these studies were with respect to the US and UK market [3].
India is different in the sense there are no unemployment benefits here. There’s one applicable for labourers that provides 40% of daily wage. I tried the application of unemployment benefits on the Government of India website but it leads to a 404 [4]. I couldn’t find any studies for the Indian market. In fact, I believe, basis my completely unscientific methods, most people would be unaware of unemployment benefits even if the government offers it.
Yet, when I speak with people in the industry, almost everyone is hiring and most of them have a difficult time filling up those positions. Considering India graduates lakhs of youngsters every year, it shouldn’t be that difficult to fill up the positions. And yet there are qualified applications for the position.
Which begs the question, what is ‘qualified’? Why aren’t these highly educated workforce finding jobs?
Now before I postulate my hypothesis, let me be clear that I am not defending the government when it comes to creating opportunities. They have done Zilch. In fact, they’ve even made it difficult for entrepreneurs to start a business by imposing absurd Angel tax, which they retrieved after facing much backlash. [5]
My core issue with the current situation is that India and its government or whoever controls the education system has betrayed the Indian youth and are in fact responsible for the current mess. Most of the Indian syllabus is about mindlessly mugging paragraphs of paragraphs without understanding the core concepts. In my time, I have seen people mugging maths solutions too. Most tuition classes teach you how to score marks in your exam by vomiting whatever the crap you’ve learnt by heart. Again mindlessly. The system really disincentivizes anyone or everyone who wants to deep dive into a topic that no one really ends up learning anything from the 15 years of colossal tragedy in everyone’s life.
Adding to it, the syllabus we study is so full of propaganda that it hurts my tiny brain when I think about the opportunities I was robbed from – to read two different opposing views and be able to conclude with my own wisdom. Everyone, including me, is such a propaganda kid, a byproduct of our education, that half the population spends at least a couple hours a day forwarding imbecile forwards. Fake news and scams wouldn’t be such a huge problem if people could identify propaganda ridden messages.
And this is the problem. People want to outsource thinking. I have done it too and it’s embarrassing.
How do you expect people who can’t think to do well in the current job market? Our education system still adheres to the learning methodologies more suitable for the industrial era. Do repeat tasks without experimentation and carry on with life.
Education in India is so ineffective that it makes sense to homeschool kids to get the certificates indicating pseudo-education to be able to apply for jobs but train them to think on their own.
Can the Education system be altered to instead empower people? To be able to find a solution to a problem on their own?
In my opinion, unless the agency to dictate who is educated or qualified (that is who can enter the workforce) lies with them, there’s no incentive for them to change. Moves like Peter Thiel’s The Thiel Fellowship [6] or organizations hiring without degrees [7] would force the system to change.
[1] https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/indias-employment-situation-is-distressing-says-cmie
[2] https://www.businessinsider.in/indias-unemployment-rate-stands-at-13-2-among-graduates-and-post-graduates-cmie/articleshow/68517075.cms
[3] https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1069&context=parkplace [pdf]
[4] https://www.india.gov.in/application-obtaining-unemployment-allowance
[5] https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/331072
[6] https://thielfellowship.org/
[7] https://www.financial-world.org/news/news/economy/1248/companies-hiring-more-americans-without-college-degree-ceos-to-trump/