VOA新闻杂志2022--印度年轻人抗议普遍失业

Young Indians Protest Widespread Unemployment

Niranjan Kumar was one of 12.5 million young people in India who applied¹ for 35,000 jobs with the country's railways department.

The department started employment tests more than a year ago. The 28-year-old mathematician², his friends, and thousands of others spent years preparing for the tests. But they did not even make the shortlist of people under consideration for the jobs.

Last week, Kumar along with tens of thousands of unemployed³ youths in Uttar Pradesh protested what they called a mismanaged employment process. Some protestors blocked traffic. Others damaged and burned train cars.

"The government is playing with our lives," Kumar told Reuters. He said the government wants to turn public jobs into those with private companies.

India has long had an unemployment problem. And top government jobs always bring large numbers of candidates. But the widespread anger over the railways is creating problems for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Important state elections are coming in February and March, including in Uttar Pradesh.

Modi came to power in 2014 promising⁴ development that would create millions of jobs for young and educated Indians. But national unemployment reached 23.5 percent in 2020, says the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). It has remained well above 7 percent since, much higher than the world average.

As of last month, India had more than 52 million unemployed people looking for work, CMIE data shows. But that number does not include many jobless people in the country of 1.35 billion people who have stopped looking for work.

India's working-age population - those between 15 and 64 - is estimated at 1 billion. And just 403 million of those people have jobs, the CMIE says.

"Unemployment is a very deep crisis⁵ - it is the responsibility of the prime minister to resolve it," opposition⁶ party leader Rahul Gandhi wrote on social media website Twitter this month. "The country is asking for answers, stop making excuses!"

A spokesperson for Modi's party said the government recognized the situation and is working to create jobs in industries such as defense⁷. He said Modi himself had directed officials to fix the problems with employment at the railways.

‘Only way out'

In the latest incident, Kumar and the other unsuccessful candidates accuse the Indian Railways of mismanaging the employment process. They say the same people were added for several different jobs.

"Had they shortlisted one candidate for only one role, we would have made it too," Kumar said.

Kumar lives in Kashi Lodge⁸, in Bihar's capital of Patna. Those who live in the building are mostly from poor rural families. And they have been preparing for the tests for government jobs for at least five years.

"I have not paid my rent for a year and my father has told me he won't support me financially beyond this year," Kumar added. "A government job for me is the only way out."

Ajay Kumar Mishra is another man living at Kashi Lodge. He said he was once a strong Modi supporter.

"We poured our heart out for him," Mishra said. "Now he will have to listen to the same youth who are hurting so much."

Mishra says he has to find a job quickly because his father will retire as a university worker next year. It is now his responsibility to financially care for his family.

"It's now or never for us," he said. "We have started a leader-less revolution in which everyone is a leader because everyone is affected⁹."

Words in This Story

mismanage to manage or control (something) badly

role — n. a part that someone or something has in a particular activity or situation

rent — n. money that you pay in return for being able to use property and especially to live in an apartment, house, etc., that belongs to someone else

pour (our) heart into — idiom to make a lot of effort to do something.

1 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

2 mathematician   

n.数学家

参考例句：

• The man with his back to the camera is a mathematician.背对着照相机的人是位数学家。
• The mathematician analyzed his figures again.这位数学家再次分析研究了他的这些数字。

3 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

4 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

5 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

6 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 lodge   

v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆

参考例句：

• Is there anywhere that I can lodge in the village tonight?村里有我今晚过夜的地方吗？
• I shall lodge at the inn for two nights.我要在这家小店住两个晚上。

9 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。