Clipped from: https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/across-the-aisle-by-p-chidambaram-no-unemployment-in-india/4111061/
In 2026, India faces a startling economic contradiction: a “deluge of good news” with 1.33% inflation and 7.4% GDP growth, yet a massive public sector vacancy crisis.
Why 10 Lakh Government Jobs Go Unfilled Despite 7.4% GDP Growth
There is a deluge of good news. Retail inflation is at 1.33 per cent. The GDP growth for 2025-26 has been estimated at 7.4 per cent. I think we must add another hurrah: there is no unemployment anywhere in India, at least unemployment of the kind we need to worry about.
No Takers for Jobs!
I have good reasons to state that there are no takers for jobs. Data shows that for hundreds of thousands of vacancies in the government and quasi-government sector, there are no takers. Despite good pay (and the 8th Pay Commission will improve it), dearness allowance, annual increments, promotions, job security, medical benefits, HRA, Transport Allowance and other allowances, leave benefits, advances and loans, and Unified Pension Scheme, young men and women are not inclined to take the jobs — sanctioned by the government but vacant. What will you conclude from this extraordinary situation other than there is no unemployment and no takers for jobs?
According to Ministry of Education, the sanctioned and vacant posts in central universities as of April 1, 2024 were as follows:
Type of Posts Sanctioned Vacant/Unfilled
Teaching posts 18,940 5,060
Non-teaching posts 35,640 16,719
Arithmetically, 27 per cent of teaching posts and 47 per cent of non-teaching posts were vacant in central universities. As of June 2025, 7,765 teaching posts in KVS and 4,323 teaching posts in NVS were vacant. Nevertheless, we are assured that teaching is well and thriving in India.
Official Data Speaks
There are more examples all over India. In the central armed police forces (CAPF) there are 25,487 posts of constables that are vacant. In Rajasthan, in the post of LDC/ Clerk Grade II, there are 10,644 vacancies. In Bihar, there are 12,199 vacancies. In U.P. there are 60,244 posts of constables that are vacant. There are 2,255 vacancies in staff nurses in Tamil Nadu. The aspirants are usually from the lower middle class who have just finished higher secondary school or are graduates.
Moving up the education chain, in 21 AIIMS, there are 3,485 persons holding faculty positions and 1,731 positions are vacant. In one district alone — Kendrapara in Odisha — among doctors and paramedics, 1,087 persons were in position while 805 posts were vacant. Bank employment has high value and status. In 12 public sector banks, the position is as follows:
In position Vacant
Officers 4,30,599 17,500
Clerks 2,43,817 12,861
Sub staff 84,092 2,206
Do not worry, all is well in internal security, healthcare and banking.
The PM Internship Scheme was launched in October 2024. A report in The Hindu dated December 2, 2025 said that, over two rounds, 1,65,000 offers were made by companies and only 20 per cent accepted; and of those who accepted the offers, one-fifth left before completing their internships. So, nearly 1,40,000 offers went a-begging because there were no takers.
Those who believe that unemployment is not a problem in developing India may stop reading at this point.
Those who think that unemployment is a problem may read further.
To be fair, the peculiar situation of vacant posts on the one hand and presumably reluctant job seekers on the other is not attributable to the BJP government alone. It has spanned many governments and many decades. However, two events under the BJP’s regime have exacerbated the situation.
Past Haunts Present
First, demonetisation. It was a man-made, self-inflicted grave injury. As I have commented earlier, it was not demonetisation in the strict sense because no currency notes were invalidated or taken out of the system. It was a scheme that offered ‘new notes for the old’. The total value of currency-in-circulation (CIC) was restored to the old level, and in fact exceeded it, quickly. On November 4, 2016, the value of CIC was Rs 17.97 lakh crore; at the end of December 2025, it had more than doubled to Rs 39.24 lakh crore. The worst fallout was that demonetisation closed many thousand small and medium businesses and destroyed jobs — which, of course, the government denies to this day. But, according to the All India Vyapar Mandal, there were 6,25,00,00 small businesses in 2016 and nearly 48 per cent of them have closed down in the last decade.
Second, COVID. A survey in 2022 estimated that 14 per cent of MSMEs permanently closed down due to the pandemic. A government report indicated that 75,000 registered MSMEs were shut down between July 2020 and February 2025 (that went beyond the Covid-affected years). UNCTAD estimated as many as 47 per cent of MSMEs in India were permanently or temporarily closed as of February 2022. These numbers cannot be verified but they are in line with common observations. As I wrote in a previous column, the main reason was that government did not fulfill the promises of financial assistance and credit guarantees. Closure of businesses due to demonetisation or Covid meant massive loss of jobs. Were these jobs restored or created again? Government has been silent on this question.
The replacement of MGNREGA by a supply-driven, guarantee-less, funds-constrained scheme will make matters worse for the rural poor who will face unemployment or under-employment (at distress wages). Many rural households, especially women, will face loss of supplemental income.
The theory that unemployment is not a big issue is a myth and hypocritical. While government is self-congratulatory, we know that joblessness is the darkest stain on the body economic.
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