Amid a slugfest over job generation between the Narendra Modi government and the opposition in India, around 4,000 people have registered for 14 posts of sanitary workers at the state assembly secretariat in Chennai. What is surprising and shocking is that a sizeable number of them are Engineering graduates and MBAs besides degree holders in the Commerce, Arts and Science streams.

Admit cards for interview have been sent to 3930 candidates. Of the 14 posts, 10 is for sweepers and 4 for sanitary workers at the Assembly Secretariat and the salary for both has been fixed in the slab of Rs 15,700 to Rs 50,000, reports hindustantimes.com.

The applicants are from across the state and from all communities. As per the recruitment roster, 4 are earmarked for General Category, for OBCs 4 (Excluding Muslims), 3 for Most Backward Classes and De-notified Tribes, 2 for SCs and 1 for STs. While no education qualification has been mentioned, physical fitness has been made mandatory.

While a good number of applicants have no formal education, competing with them are those who have completed M.Tech, BE, M.Com and MBA apart from graduates in other disciplines. Candidates who have registered with the Employment Exchange, have also been included in the list.

This comes close on the heels of 93,000 applicants, including PhD holders, vying for 62 peon posts in Uttar Pradesh and 7000 candidates applying for 13 vacancies of waiters at the canteen in Mantralaya in Mumbai. There too most of the applicants were more qualified than the prescribed qualification of 5th pass or 4th pass.

Though the advertisement for the 14 posts was issued in August 2018, the heavy rush of applicants caught the attention only when the list of candidates with their details, for whom admit cards were issued, was uploaded in the Tamil Nadu Government website. According to analysts, this is indicative of the not only the job crisis in Tamil Nadu, but also the lack of employment opportunities for the educated.