Delayed government job results in Uttar Pradesh leave young aspirants in limbo

At 27, Rishabh Tripathi (name changed) is worried. He lives in an 80-square-foot rented room in a double-storey house in Ayodhya town, its walls chipped, the floor cracked, the roof leaking. He is contemplating his next steps. An ambitious State-level 10m air pistol shooter, Tripathi feels his dreams are dying a slow death. He has just checked the website of the Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Service Selection Commission (UPSSSC) and is disappointed. Again.

“Every day I check the website twice. It has been two months now. The final results of the Village Panchayat Officer (VPO) post have still not been posted. I have been trying for a government job, but the prolonged delay in conducting the examination is adversely impacting my life, my dreams,” says a frustrated Tripathi.

The son of a street vendor who owns less than an acre of farmland, Tripathi has two dreams: to help his family in his elder sister’s marriage and to take a loan for sports equipment and academy fees. “I dream of representing India in the 2028 Olympics. If the final result of the VPO is declared, I can take the loan. Shooting is an expensive sport; my family can’t afford it,” he says. He makes ends meet by tutoring children in Ayodhya, earning ₹4,000 a month.

Tripathi is among millions of young government job aspirants in Uttar Pradesh, most of whom hope for the stability of an income and upward social mobility. Many have a similar grievance: the recruitment commission routinely delays the process, wasting young aspirants’ prime years. They also allege irregularities in the process. In the past, there have been Preliminary Eligibility Test (PET) paper leaks, besides those of other exams.

The VPO is a Group C post, an administrative role that facilitates the implementation of government schemes, among other work. The UPSSSC is authorised to recruit for Group C and D posts whenever the State Government issues a notification. On May 16, 2023, up to 1,468 VPO posts were notified. Roughly 40 times the number of candidates were shortlisted based on their PET scores.

The PET is a State-level qualifying exam managed by the UPSSSC. It features a 100-question, 100-mark, two-hour written test with one-fourth negative marking. Tripathi has a BSc degree from Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University. He is also upset that the commission has not processed the results of a Junior Assistant post, another job he applied for.

“I sat for the exam in June last year, the results were declared in October. The typing test was done in November and December, and the results were declared in February this year,” he says. He adds that even his documents were verified in May. “But the final result is pending. This was for a job notified on August 4, 2023. These delays are frustrating, not just for me but also for other people my age. Our youth is getting wasted,” Tripathi adds.

Pankaj Pandey, convener of the Sanyukt Pratiyogi Chhatra Hunkar Manch, a Prayagraj-based outfit of competitive exam aspirants, has been demanding a fair investigation into alleged irregularities in the Lekhpal examination conducted by the UPSSSC. “There are multiple videos circulating on social media platforms of organised cheating in the Lekhpal Mains examination [conducted on May 21 across 861 centres in 44 districts]. We demanded that the Uttar Pradesh government appoint a high-level Special Investigation Team to probe the allegations, but this has not been accepted,” says Pandey, a government job aspirant.

The government, however, says the allegations of a paper leak are false. According to an official statement, the exam was “fair, uninterrupted and peaceful” and conducted “with full transparency”. It added that once the government received news of a paper leak, competent authorities took appropriate action.

For Tripathi and countless others, the wait continues. Their prime years are slipping away as they check websites and hold on to hope for a stable government job.