Recently, the Uttar Pradesh state government reportedly sought applications for 368 posts of peon in the state secretariat in Lucknow. In a surprise response, over 23 lakh applicants, which is half of Lucknow's population, sent in their resumes for the post.
Out of these 23 lakh applicants, over 1.5 lakh are B Tech, BSc and BCom graduates, 25 thousand are Masters in Science, Commerce and Arts. 255 PhDs are also in the queue for a job as peon in the secretariat.
The advertisement released by the government had only two criteria; a) Applicant should be have passed 5th standard and b) Applicant must know how to ride a bicycle.
These recruitment were reportedly to be done by a face-to-face interview but it will take more than four years to interview every applicant. NDTV has reported that the government is seeking help from experts on how to continue with the recruitment process. Analysis of these applications suggest that only 53,000 applicants have passed standard 5.
Many applicants were approached by several media agencies who admitted that they had no job and it was better for them to be a peon than an unemployed graduate or a PhD.
