NEW DELHI: When the Indian railways, one of the world’s biggest non-military employers, advertised for 20,000 unskilled jobs recently, five million men applied. The flood of recruits underlined the fact that economic reforms have failed to provide enough new jobs for the population.

The jobs were for “gangmen”, whose work involves patrolling the tracks to check the conditions of the rails.

The monthly wage is low at about 6,000 rupees and no school- leaving certificate is required. But among the applicants were hundreds of graduates, postgraduates, MBAs and engineers.

At two recruitment centres, Mumbai, and the capital of Assam state in the north-east, Guwahati, local people stopped job-seekers from other states from appearing for the tests. They wanted the jobs reserved for candidates from their own states. More than 50 people died in the ensuing violence and railway offices were ransacked.

The recruitment drive was suspended last week. Competition for the jobs was too fierce, even for Indian railways — which employs more than 1.5 million people — to handle.

“The railways went in for mass recruitment after a very long gap,” said an official. “The response was totally unprecedented. Everyone seems to want a government job.”—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.