In December 2018, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who was in the Opposition then, said that there were 2.3 lakh government jobs in the State, which he would fill immediately if voted to power. He empathised with the “woeful plight” of the thousands of young people, who, he said, had been let down by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government which had released a DSC (District Selection Committee) notification to fill 7,000 teacher posts against the 23,000 vacant posts in the State. Mr. Reddy promised to end their wait and release a ‘mega DSC’ filling all the vacant posts, if elected. He also assured them that he would release a job calendar on the first day of January every year.
None of this happened. As a result, Mr. Reddy faces the wrath of the unemployed youth in the State ahead of the elections. Besides, there is growing disillusionment from other quarters. For instance, Mr. Reddy has not restored the Old Pension Scheme, which he had promised to do, while campaigning for the 2019 elections.
After a series of protests by student and youth organisations for the promised job calendar and DSC notification, the YSR Congress government recently announced a DSC to recruit 6,100 teachers in State-run schools. This sparked anger. Young people took to the streets calling the ‘mega DSC’ a “grand betrayal and a sham”. They said that the government released the notification just before the elections knowing fully well that the recruitment process cannot be completed before the code of conduct comes into effect.
