Farmers Movement Archive

Amid protests, freshers queue up for jobs

New Delhi: A short distance from Singhu border, where farmers have been protesting against the new agri laws, a small portion of the otherwise deserted Kessel Grand mall has been constantly buzzing with activity. Aspirants have been making way to a placement office on the ground floor, which provides job opportunities to freshers free of cost, after trudging for a couple of hours due to lack of conveyance. Abhishek, an aspirant, walked for an hour from Narela taking several shortcuts to reach the office of TDS Placement Services Private Limited on Friday. Despite the effort, he could not qualify for a job at the warehouse of an e-commerce major. “I was employed earlier, but the office shut down during the lockdown. I need a job. I came to know about this office through my friends. At this moment, I will take any job that comes my way,” said the graduate from Delhi University’s School of Open Learning (SOL). Jyoti, who had walked for even longer from Swaroop Nagar to reach the placement office, had come for the same job interview. “There was a lot of traffic at Tikri border, so I walked till here. Sadly, I did not qualify for the job. I will try again whenever there is another opportunity,” said the girl who had reached there with her friend Poonam, a first-year student of SOL. “At this time, any kind of opportunity cannot be ignored. It was a huge effort to walk for so long, but at least I could appear for the interview,” said Poonam, adding that she and her friends had submitted their details for future openings. While the crowd was thin on Friday, around 150 people had gathered at the office to appear for an interview a day earlier. Narendra Chauhan, who runs the agency, said, “Currently, fewer candidates are coming here as they don’t know how to reach the office due to the farmers’ protest. There have been days when 400 aspirants have come for interviews. We have a direct link with companies and sometimes they come here to conduct the interviews.” “As the service is free of cost, a large number of candidates make a beeline to the office. We have been doing this for the past 15 years. We have a robust network and WhatsApp group of successful candidates, who give us leads about opportunities,” added Chauhan.

The Times of India

2020-12-11

Delhi