Throwing a sharp light on the “level of unemployment as compared to literacy level in the state”, the Uttar Pradesh government has received 23.25 lakh applications, including from 250 PhD candidates, for 368 posts of grade IV staff (peons) at the state Secretariat.
As per the number of total applications, there are at least 6,318 candidates in fray for each vacancy. The government had set the eligibility as Class V-pass and ability to ride bicycle (with exemption for females and physically challenged) to apply for these vacancies.
When the department officials analysed the data after the application deadline, 53,000 applicants were Class-V pass. Among others, 7.50 lakh had the highest education qualification of Class XII, 11.21 lakh were Class X-pass whereas 8 lakh candidates had cleared Class VIII.
The applicants also included 25,000 post graduates and 1.52 lakh graduates. There were 250 transgender applicants too.
Surprised with the surge in the number of applications received online till September 14, the last date for applications, the UP government has formed a sub-committee under Prabhat Mittal, Secretary of Secretariat Administration Department, to recommend a plan to wrap up the interviews in seven to eight months. Special secretaries of Appointment and Personnel, Finance and Law departments are other members of the committee that has to submit the recommendations in 15 days.
“If we start interviewing such large number of applicants, it will take more than two years to complete the process. So a sub-committee has been formed to prepare a plan,” Mittal said.
The Secretariat Administra-tion department had invited online applications for the 368 posts on August 11.
Another official said, “We did good by inviting applications online. Otherwise, a large number of staff would have had to be engaged to go through all the applications, check them and send interview call letters.”
Mittal said online applications were invited to maintain transparency in the recruitment process, but the department hadn’t expected to receive so many applications.
According to sources, this has happened for the first time in the UP government that such a large number of applications were received for a small number of grade IV vacancies in the Secretariat. It was in 2006 when around 1 lakh candidates had applied for 260 posts of Class IV category. These one lakh candidates had applied offline.
http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/lucknow/around-250-phd-holders-in-line-for-peons-job-in-up/