Futility of ‘Rozgar Melas’

We all cherished melas in our childhood. These melas, or fairs, have been an integral part of our tradition and culture. While there are fewer such melas nowadays, a new type of mela emerges in the country every few weeks—Rozgar Mela. Job fairs are not new to young people. These fairs typically feature multiple companies, aiming to inform attendees about the participating companies and the job opportunities they offer. In some cases, attendees can even submit their resumes for consideration for existing or upcoming job openings. Companies also use job fairs as a means to build and promote their employer brand. The relevance and usefulness of job fairs and the positive role they play are easy to understand.

However, Rozgar Melas, organised by the government, are different from typical job fairs. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the inaugural mela on October 22 last year, with the most recent one occurring on October 28 this year. These Rozgar Melas are conducted as virtual events to virtually distribute appointment letters to individuals selected for positions in various government departments. It is worth noting that on
October 28, 51,000 individuals received appointment
letters, with the Prime Minister addressing the attendees in person.

The job landscape in our country is evolving rapidly. While more job opportunities are now emerging in the private sector, for decades, government and public sector organisations were the largest employers. As people retire or pursue better prospects, vacancies must be filled. Additionally, organisational growth and expansion should naturally create new job opportunities, but this should not be touted as an accomplishment. If organisations and businesses do not grow and become more efficient over time, it is an undesirable situation.

Unfortunately, the Rozgar Melas appear to be nothing more than a chest-thumping exercise by the government, lacking substantial value. The serious issue of a shortage of job opportunities for our educated youth is well known. In election campaigns, all political parties have promised to generate new jobs. The BJP, for example, promised one crore jobs if it came to power in 2014, a promise that remains unfulfilled.

According to a 2020 MacKinsey report, India needs to create 9 million new non-farm jobs by 2030 to keep up with its growing young population. Instead, millions of jobs have been lost. There are various challenges to job creation: Businesses are trying to be lean and more mechanised to produce more with a smaller number of people; AI is replacing manpower, and the trend is likely to grow in the days to come. Instead of tackling such challenges head-on and developing a comprehensive participative employment strategy, government efforts seem more focused on presenting a superficially positive image for political gains. This may benefit the ruling party,
but it comes at a cost to
all stakeholders.

The organisation and participation in such melas demand intensive preparation and coordination. The departments responsible for handing out appointment letters after the recruitment process are stretched thin, compromising their regular work. The selected candidates have to needlessly wait for weeks or months to receive their appointment letters in the next Rozgar Mela, when these letters could have been issued promptly after the selection process. This delay results in candidates losing a month’s salary and seniority; the wait adds to their anxiety. Many candidates, particularly those from remote areas, are forced to rush to physically attend a Rozgar Mela to collect their hard-earned appointment letter, which could have been easily sent via email. The recruitment cycle is already quite lengthy, so there is no need to further extend it by making people wait for their appointment offers at a Rozgar Mela.

The government goes to great lengths to glamourize Rozgar Melas. Press agencies are instructed to highlight the events as important news, and full front-page advertisements proudly announce that employment has been granted to thousands of people, though there is little to be proud of in this routine matter. There are allegations of promotions being included in the statistics.

Taking cues from the central government, some state governments have
also begun organising Rozgar Melas.

Both central and state governments should realise that there is no real need for these Rozgar Melas, which often serve as tools for gimmicks and cheap publicity, wasting valuable time and resources. They would do better by remaining honest with their electorate and earnestly finding some real, sustainable solutions for employment generation.

(The writer is a human resource development
professional)