Ahead of the forthcoming Rajasthan assembly polls, the statistics show that there has been a considerable rise in the vote share percentage of youth. As opposed to the usual increase between 6 to 12 percent, this time the number has reached to 18 percent, a report in DNA claimed. The report further added that there will be 70 lakh fresh voters this time. In the last Rajasthan assembly election held in 2013, the number of new voters was more than 45 lakhs.
As the number of youth increases every year there is a lot of pressure on the government to build more employment opportunities for the youth. In the last election, Vasundhara Raje had promised the creation of 15 lakh jobs which seems unfulfilled to this date. Earlier this year, in July, the opposition party in the state had taken out a protest against the unfulfillment of the promise. Sachin Pilot, the state party chief had said, “The BJP had in the last assembly elections promised employment to 15 lakh youths, but it is unfortunate that even 10 percent of the target could not be achieved”. The opposition party had also objected to the PM’s rally conducted in the state accusing it of using public money for it. He also stated that every section of the common mass is unhappy with the government.
The unemployment rate in India, nearly two-thirds of those 1.3 billion people are under 35 years old, hit its highest level in 16 months in March at 6.23 percent, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE)’, reported reuters. The youth seems extremely disgruntled with the current government. In a recent reuters report the youth of Kasba Bonli, a market town in Rajasthan had voted PM Modi in 2014 for his promises of employment, but that seems a distant dream as most youth are either loitering around or have taken up jobs such as a house painter despite being graduates and postgraduates. Some have even opened tea stalls as they have no hope of getting a salaried job.
The state of Rajasthan has mainly seen the government of either BJP or government since the partition. Up until 1990, the Congress-ruled for the most parts. After Bhairo Singh Shekhawat’s government completed its term in 1998, the state has witnessed an alternate arrangement of government after every five years.