Jyoti and Abdul Zaki, both engineering graduates who interned in Japan for three years, took an early morning train from Meerut to attend the Indian Youth Congress’s Mega Job Fair at Delhi’s Talkatora Stadium on Thursday — Rahul Gandhi’s birthday. Despite their qualifications in computer and mechanical engineering, and proficiency in Japanese, they have struggled to find jobs in India since returning this year. “We want to work in companies like Subros and Mindarika, which need our skills,” Jyoti said. Zaki added, “We’ve restricted our job search to NCR to stay close to our families, but now there’s pressure to go abroad again.”
More than 100 companies participated in the fair, including Flipkart, Amazon, Airtel, Vodafone Idea, Hero Motocorp, Axis Bank, and Tata Group firms. Over 10,000 job seekers had registered online. Many were drawn by social media, hoardings, or local Congress outreach. Congress leader Rajkumar Sharma brought 50 youths by bus, emphasizing that political parties should help youth find jobs.
Quess Corp, a major recruiter at the fair, aimed to hire 5,000 candidates for retail, telecom, and manufacturing sectors. HR manager Ram Chauhan said, “We welcome candidates from diverse educational backgrounds, and even if we’re not hiring for a profile now, they can register on our portal.”
Flipkart’s stall saw a rush of women applicants but interest waned after learning the ₹17,000-per-month job involved packing in Gurugram. “I have IT skills. I can do BPO, but not packing,” said applicant Shivani.
Pooja, a recent diploma holder in computer engineering, echoed the sentiment. “With long work hours and low pay, it’s tough to manage. Only two from our class of 70 got offers above ₹20,000.”
Anuj Sharma, an MCA graduate, and Kashish, accompanied by her daily-wage earner father, represented diverse economic backgrounds but similar job struggles. “The Congress brought companies to help youths. That’s why we came,” said Sanjay, Kashish’s father.
While many appreciated the platform, others felt better job clarity was needed. Despite such initiatives, India’s unemployment remains a concern — the Periodic Labour Force Survey for May put the rate at 5.6%.
