THE police detention of 13 protesters who were demanding an increase in the age limit to apply for government jobs is unacceptable. The law enforcers detained the protesters after foiling their demonstrations in the Shahbagh crossing in the capital on May 11. The protesters demanded that the age limit to apply for government jobs should be increased to 35 years. The age limit to apply for government jobs now is 30 years. When the foiling of the demonstration and the detention of protesters suggest police high-handedness, the government鈥檚 failure in creating an adequate number of jobs is unacceptable. Students and jobseekers have demanded an increase in the age limit to apply for government jobs for almost a decade. But their demand was never heeded and their demonstrations were foiled and they were attacked many times in the past. The government, on different occasions, spoke of considering the demand to increase the age limit. On May 6, the public administration minister once again said that the government did not have any immediate plans to raise the age limit but would consider it in future. But what the government should also consider is why students and job-seekers have pushed for such a demand.
The demand for an increase in the age limit for entry-level jobs is only natural, as the country has witnessed an increase in the unemployment rate among the educated youth. Even according to the conservative figure of the Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate among people with tertiary education is more than 12 per cent. Independent studies, however, put the figure at 25鈥�30 per cent. The overall unemployment rate has also increased. The Bureau of Statistics in its quarterly labour force survey, made public on May 6, finds that the number of unemployed people has increased by 2.4 lakh in the first three months this year. When the BBS calculates the unemployment rate to be at 3.51 per cent in the first quarter of 2024 and 3.36 per cent in 2023, independent studies find the figures untrustworthy, saying the national statistical office has always tried to manipulate the unemployment figure and the way it defines unemployment is problematic. The statistical office considers those people unemployed who did not work at least one hour in the past seven days despite having willingness and who were looking for paid work for the past 30 days. In such a situation, the police high-handedness towards the jobseekers is unacceptable. Such high-handedness, seen in suppressing protests and demonstrations by students, civic organisations, workers and the political opposition, appears to have become the characteristic government response.
The government must, therefore, rather, listen to jobseekers鈥� grievances and seek what it can do. The government must also attend to the issue of joblessness among the educated youth. The authorities must make a course correction in dealing with protests and demonstrations. But it must first get to the root cause of the demonstrations, unemployment that is, and resolve the issue.
