Elections to Telangana’s 119-member Assembly are all set to take place on 30 November. While incumbent chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao will be contesting for a third term, his party Bharat Rashtra Samithi or BRS (formerly Telangana Rashtra Samithi or TRS) is facing stiff competition from the Congress and, in some pockets, the BJP.
Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM will also be contesting from nine seats.
In the run up to the hotly-contested polls, KCR’s party announced several sops for several sections of its populace on 16 October. These included increasing the Aasara monthly pension for senior citizens, widows, beedi workers, filaria victims, single women, and handloom weavers from the existing Rs 2,016 to Rs 6,000 per month in the next five years. The BRS also promised to increase the Rythu Bandhu farm investment support from the current Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 per acre per farmer and gradually increase it to Rs 16,000 per acre per farmer.
The doles released by the BRS government were an apparent counter to the six guarantees of the Congress, which included financial incentives and assistance for women, farmers, auto rickshaw drivers, mid-day meal workers, as well as social security for the unorganised sector on the lines of the Rajasthan government’s bill for gig workers.
Meanwhile, the BJP has promised free desi cows, a committee to implement the Uniform Civil Code within six months, state government recruitment exams to be conducted every six months and 10 lakh jobs for women.
For the first time, women voters (1,63,01,705) in Telangana have outnumbered male voters (1,62,98,418), as per the final electoral list. But will jobs and unemployment be a poll issue this election season? Let’s find out:
'Over 40 Lakh Youth Jobless in Telangana': Congress
According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), Telangana’s unemployment rate was recorded at 5.2 percent as of March 2023, which is lower than the national average of 7.8 percent.
Telangana’s unemployment rate is also lesser than that of its parent state Andhra Pradesh, which has 7.5 percent jobless youth in state, according to CMIE data.
However, AICC Secretary and former MLA, Ch. Vamshichand Reddy claimed that the unemployment rate in Telangana stood at 15.1 percent. He was seemingly citing a Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) report, which stated that for every 100 youth in the 15-29 age group, at least 15 are unemployed in Telangana.
Please note that the data presented by CMIE and PLFS are different on account of different methodologies used by the organisations in their measure of unemployment across India’s states.
Referring to the issue of joblessness as the biggest "curse" in Telangana, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala on 22 November told reporters that over 40 lakh youth are unemployed in the state.
During the 2018 assembly elections, KCR had announced an unemployment allowance scheme, promising Rs 3,018 per month to the state’s jobless youth. The BRS government had earmarked Rs 1,810 crore for its implementation, which was planned in 2019 but has been delayed since.
According to The Hindu, Reddy said the government owes Rs. 1,71,912 to every unemployed youth as it did not implement the unemployment allowance scheme of Rs 3,016 per month and accused KCR of “conveniently neglecting” the jobless youth of the state.
Telangana’s unemployment rate increased during the 2020-21, evidently when the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak.
'1.91 Lakh Govt Jobs Vacant': Congress
Last month, a 23-year-old woman from Warangal, who was preparing for competitive exams, allegedly died by suicide at her hostel in Ashok Nagar. The incident led to protests by government job aspirants, who claimed that she was dejected over not getting a job due to postponement of the the Group-2 exam by Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) again.
The BJP and the Congress also accused the government of neglect and questioned it over alleged question paper leaks of state government recruitment exams.
While BJP MP K Laxman claimed on X (formerly Twitter) that the woman took the extreme step due to repeated cancellations and postponements of exams by the BRS government, Congress' Surjewala labelled Telangana as the "suicide capital" for the youth.
Claiming that (TSPSC) has become a den of corruption with 15 reported question paper leaks, Surjewala said, "that's why 3,600 students were forced to commit suicide during 2014-2021".
According to a report by The Hindu, Chamala Kiran Reddy, vice president of Congress’ Telangana unit, on 28 October said that more than 22 lakh youth have registered with the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) for various recruitment exams.
Meanwhile, Congress secretary Vamshichand Reddy claimed that there are 1.91 lakh vacancies in the government departments mentioned by the Biswal Committee.
According to the website launched by KT Rama Rao on Tuesday, there are over 2 lakh vacancies in government jobs, of which, the selection process of 1.6 lakh has been completed.
“Telangana filled in 1,60,083 jobs in 9.5 years which is the highest for any state in India with respect to its population,” the website states.
The Congress, BRS and BJP have all promised to fill these vacancies if voted to power in Telangana.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)