Warangal: Unemployment rampant in TS, lament speakers at roundtable

Warangal: Underemployment is rampant in Telangana, Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) chief Prof. Kodandaram said. Speaking at a round table conference that focused on the failure of the TSPSC, the State recruitment board, in Hanumakonda on Monday, he said that the number of unemployed increased three times during 2018-19 compared to the 2013-14 period.

Kodandaram said that the percentage of the jobless, who completed post graduation, was 10 per cent in 2013-14, and it went up to 34 per cent in 2018-19. It indicates the severity of unemployment in the State, he added.

"Employment should be seen as a growth engine of the nation. It should never be seen as an earning of a person," Prof Kodandaram said. The travesty is such that poor people who struggled their way to complete post graduation or other higher education are forced to do petty jobs, even turning to labourers as they lack employment opportunities, he said.

People in Telangana struggled relentlessly for decades to achieve a separate State; but we are still denied the very concept of statehood, the TJS chief said, holding the BRS government responsible for failing the aspirations of the people.

In 2015, KCR announced to fill 1.07 lakh vacancies in the State services. The government hardly filled 80,000 vacancies by 2018 Assembly elections, he said.

Referring to the TSPSC examination question paper leaks, Prof Kodandaram demanded the government to pay Rs 1 lakh to each candidate who attended the recruitment test. He also demanded the government to conduct an inquiry by a sitting High Court judge. He said that they were organising a protest in Hyderabad on April 18.

Hanumakonda DCC president Naini Rajender Reddy said that the State government was throttling the voice of the Opposition to cover up its failures. "Preventive arrests and house arrests of the Opposition party leaders have become the order of the day," Naini said.

He alleged that the government was trying to cover up the TSPSC question paper leaks issue by making a couple of employees as the scapegoats. He said that the BRS government made the jobs a commodity in the market.

Senior CPI-ML New Democracy leader Govardhan, former Congress MP Sircilla Rajaiah, Appa Rao, Manda Shankaaia (New Democracy), Narasimha Rao (PDSU) and Kannam Sunil (BSP) were among others present.