Are You Not Responsible For Youth Sacrificing Their Lives, Chandrababu?

Pappalapalem Cross, Visakhapatnam District: Villagers of Mucharla which is not very far from where I campaigned, came and met me. For decades they had been cultivating crops on 1100 acres of Inam land. However they had no rights over the land. During my father’s rule, he ensured that they enjoyed rights on the land they cultivated and also helped them get loans. I felt overjoyed when they told me that my father helped them in a way they would never forget in their lives.

In the morning, my Padayatra went past Centurion and Sai Ganapathy engineering colleges. Staff from these colleges told me that they had been waiting for four and a half years for government jobs, but met only with disappointment. They were furious that after this long wait the government was preparing them for another round of deception by claiming it would release a notification offering a few token jobs. Kondrothu Raju, a student who completed his education a year ago, told me that he was yet to receive his fee reimbursement. As a result of this, the college authorities refused to give certificates to him, he complained. Hundreds of students from that college met me and told me that there were no campus placements in the institution. Students who completed their B.Tech and M.Tech degrees, their seniors, were still jobless, they pointed out. What is shocking is that they are ready to take up the smallest of government jobs including that of an attender! They expressed their anguish that had special category status being granted to Andhra Pradesh, this state of affairs would not have been there. The situation would have been vastly different, they observed. As important as it is to create opportunities for education, it is equally necessary to create avenues of employment. Youth become restless when they don’t have access to either. Out of disappointment, desperation and resultant depression, they take their lives.

Golagani Appalaswamy of Vemagottipalem is a hundred years old and a great admirer of my father. He had been waiting to see me for the past two days. He blessed me saying I should serve people of the state the way my father did, and was hopeful I would. Another ardent follower of mine met me today.

Sriram, who met me this evening, all of ten, is a visually impaired child from birth. He however, follows me dutifully and listens to every word I speak at public meetings. He re-enacted my expressions in a very realistic fashion. This is not possible unless one has such indescribable admiration and affection. This child made me forget my fatigue in the way that he demonstrated his love and affection for me.

I have a question for the chief minister—as per the Kamalanathan committee report, when you assumed office there were 1.42 lakh job vacancies in the government sector. Currently, this figure has crossed 1.8 lakhs. Have you filled up a single job in these four and a half years? With elections four months away, promising jobs through a notification to 18,000 youth of the state amounts to deception, does it not? Are you not responsible for young people taking their lives out of disappointment over not getting private or government jobs and denial of special category status to the state which would have opened up employment opportunities?