Thousands Of Doctors, Engineers, MBAs Queue Up For Government Jobs In Madhya Pradesh

In Madhya Pradesh, 4,811 MBBS doctors, 86,000 engineers, and 18,800 MBAs are among more than 25 lakh registered job-seekers hoping for government employment. But in official records, they are no longer "unemployed." The state now calls them "Aakanshi Yuva", or aspirational youth.

The startling figures emerged during the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Assembly when Congress MLA and former Home Minister Bala Bachchan sought details of job-seeking youth across qualifications - from Class 10 pass-outs to postgraduates and professionals.

Minister of State for Skill Development and Employment Gautam Tetwal revealed that as of June 30, 2025, 25,68,321 applicants are registered on the MP Rojgar Portal, with graduates forming the largest group at 8.3 lakh. Postgraduates number 2.38 lakh, and even highly qualified professionals, including doctors, engineers, and MBAs, are lining up for posts.

Gender-wise, the breakdown is almost equal: 13.91 lakh men and 11.76 lakh women. But caste-wise distribution shows that unemployment is the highest among the Other Backward Classes (OBC). Of the over 25 lakh who have registered on the portal seeking jobs, over 10 lakh belong to the OBC category.  

But the government's own classification has shifted; these applicants are not "unemployed" in its view, but merely "aspirational."

Minister Tetwal admitted in response to another MLA, Pratap Grewal, that the term "unemployed" has been replaced with "aspirational youth" in official parlance. The reasoning: a person registering on the portal may already have a job but is seeking "better employment," and hence should not be counted among the unemployed.

This semantic shift comes against the backdrop of puzzling swings in joblessness figures. In 2018, Madhya Pradesh reported 26.82 lakh unemployed; the number surged to 33.13 lakh in 2023, only to fall sharply to 25.68 lakh by June 2025. This, despite the fact that 62.75 lakh youth registered on the portal between 2018 and 2025, while lakhs more add to the figure every year.

Fluctuations Defy Logic

The year-on-year changes in unemployment numbers border on the inexplicable. In 2019, unemployment hit 31.55 lakh, dropped to 24.72 lakh in 2020, rose above 30 lakh in 2021, climbed to 33.13 lakh in 2023, then plunged to 26.18 lakh in 2024.

In that same 2024 period, the government claimed to have issued offer letters to just 52,000 youth, raising doubts over how the massive drop was achieved.

Adding to the controversy is the 2021 contract awarded to a private company, Yashasvi, to provide jobs to 25,000 youth. Of the 11,680 candidates the company listed as placed, only 4,433 were found genuine in verification. Yet the government paid the firm Rs 4.17 crore, and shockingly, the contract carried no penalty clause for failing to meet targets.

Minister Tetwal told NDTV that unemployment has decreased due to industry hiring and outsourcing, and that many registered candidates are already employed but seeking better opportunities. "Some youth keep looking for better employment even after getting employment, and they also register on the portal. That is why we are calling them aspirational youth," he said.

The rebranding does not hide the lack of job opportunities in the state, the Congress hit back. 

Congress leader Bhupendra Gupta said, "The rebranding does little to hide the fact that thousands of degree-holding professionals - from MBBS doctors to MBAs - are still chasing scarce opportunities in Madhya Pradesh, and that volatile numbers, unexplained dips, and lenient private contracts have left the state's employment record under a cloud."