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Three years ago, Prerna, a bright-eyed young woman from Sirsa in Haryana, packed her bags and moved to Chandigarh to pursue a degree in fashion and lifestyle from the esteemed Panjab University. Now, as she stands on the precipice of graduation, her excitement is tinged with a palpable sense of worry.
“I want to find a job in Chandigarh,” she confides, her voice echoing the concerns of many of her peers.
“But there aren't too many job opportunities here.”
Though there is an option of relocating to a metropolis like Delhi, Prerna is reluctant.
“It took me two years to settle here… Relocating to yet another new city would be going through that grind yet again,” she explains.
Safety, too, is a concern. “Chandigarh is relatively safe for women,” she says.
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Prerna’s sentiment is echoed by many undergraduates and postgraduates in Chandigarh.
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They claim a dearth of job opportunities for the youth and hope that the party that comes to power following this Lok Sabha election makes job creation its utmost priority.
Simran, a sociology postgraduate student at Panjab University, laments the minuscule probability of securing a government job.
“As many as 200,000 students apply to fill in 50 vacancies (for government jobs). The probability of getting that job is negligible.”
Her vote, she asserts, will go to a party that prioritises job creation, be it the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Indian National Congress (INC) or any other.
“Neither religion nor caste bothers us, nor will it decide who we will vote for,” she states firmly.
Chandigarh votes on June 1. The BJP’s Sanjay Tandon and the Congress’ Manish Tewari are the leading contestants.
Chandigarh, a city with a substantial senior citizen population, has grown into an education hub. Every year, hundreds of students migrate from the northern part of the country, drawn by the dream of earning a degree and eventually becoming financially independent with a lucrative job. And, politicians in the Union territory are trying to woo these young voters with the promise of job opportunities.
Tewari, for instance, has promised guaranteed jobs to every fresh graduate and diploma holder, pledging a “first job” of Rs 1 lakh per year – as promised in the Congress’ manifesto. Similarly, Tandon, in line with the BJP’s manifesto, has promised to foster ample opportunities by creating better infrastructure.
Yet, the reality remains stark. Official data reveals that Punjab’s urban unemployment rate among the 15-29 age group rose to 17.4 per cent during the quarter-ended March, up from 15.3 per cent in the previous quarter. The unemployment rate among women in Punjab was 26 per cent, substantially higher than that of men at 15 per cent.
Comparing this with the national data, the unemployment rate for the 15-29 age group rose to 17 per cent during the January-March quarter of 2024, up from 16 per cent in the previous quarter. According to a report released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Institute of Human Development in March, India’s youth account for almost 83 per cent of the unemployed workforce.
As the young denizens of Chandigarh grapple with these realities, their hopes and dreams hang in the balance. Sipping a cup of tea on a hot summer afternoon, Priya, a student at SD College, retorts: “The youth is stressed and students are depressed.”
