Grads vying to become Coolies
By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 12 January 2010, 22:48 IST   |    35 Comments
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Grads vying to become Coolies
Mumbai: Having been unable to land in well-paid jobs, several graduates with additional professional qualifications are vying for coolie jobs that don't guarantee them income every day. The long list of applications coming from graduates doesn't come as a surprise to the railways, reports the Economic Times. "As long as I get a job which pays me a decent sum, I don't mind working as a coolie," said a third year B.Com student Ganesh Sanap, who has also finished a course in computer hardware. And the latest job, he has applied for is that of the post of a licensed porter in Central Railway. "As long as I'm not doing anything illegal, I don't see why my parents would object," he added. Sanap was not the only graduate competing for a porter's job. There were, in fact, many more people like Sagar Deshmukh and Madhav Avhad who graduated a couple of years ago, but still applying for a porter's job. For Narendra Kudalkar (26), a long phase of unemployment led him to try out his luck. Earlier, he used to work as a supervisor at a construction site before he was thrown out of the job without any reason. "I never got a permanent post anywhere after that. I'm hoping to land a job here," Kudalkar. Sanap and Kudalkar are among the 1,311 graduate applicants vying for 79 jobs with no income guarantee every day. The applicants have to go through a stringent process before being sent for the final selection. After finishing a 1,500-metre run in seven minutes, the applicants are sent for a medical screening. "Half of the applicants turn up for the medical tests and only those who pass that test are eligible for the post," Central Railway PRO Anil K Singh said. "Many of these porters don't even stick to the rates specified by the union and end up raking in extra money. Moreover, they also get promotions on a regular basis," said Singh. Former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad had introduced a scheme through which porters could be promoted as railway gangmen. "Once they get hired as a porter, they can look forward to the job of a gangman. This is the main attraction for all the applicants," added Singh.

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