Recently, the Uttar Pradesh Secretariat Administration Department has invited Online Jobs applications from the candidates to fill up the 368 Anusevak & Farrash posts in UP. Over 23 lakh candidates including PhD holders and B Tech qualified candidates have also applied for the post of peons in Uttar Pradesh Secretariat.

It’s a painful truth that about 6,200 candidates are competing for one peon post. The question arises whether unemployment in Uttar Pradesh is so massive that people are ready to do menial jobs in spite of their qualification. The crisis of unemployment has compelled even those who obtained doctoral degree, engineering degree candidates to apply for the post of peons.

For 368 positions for peons at the Vidhan Sabha Sachivalay or state assembly in Lucknow, more than 23 lakh people have applied. Of them, 255 have doctorates in engineering, commerce and science and around 25,000 have master’s degrees.

2300000 applications for 368 peon jobs in Uttar Pradesh, of which over 200000 applicants have BTech, BSc, MSc & MCom degrees & also 255 PhDs

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) September 16, 2015

All that the government wants in a peon is school education and bicycle-riding skills. Not even a written exam is needed.

To understand how best to tackle the deluge of applications for the post, the government is consulting experts. If so many candidates are to be interviewed, selection could take four years, say officials.

Applicants like Alok believe it is worth the wait; a peon’s job means a salary of at least Rs. 16,000 and all the benefits that come with being on the government’s payroll.

Officials believe soon, the staff sitting on benches outside government offices, waiting to deliver files or fetch water, could be people who have doctorates in history, philosophy or psychology.

“I believe no work is small. Abroad, students often take up small jobs to earn a living,” Alok explains, when asked whether he feels overqualified for the job.

“We never expected such a deluge of applications running in lakhs for just 368 ‘chaprasi’ posts,” says an official of the Secretariat Administration Department (SAD) which is the nodal department for the recruitment of secretariat staff.

But a minister believes exceptionally qualified peons present another set of worries.

“It is possible that even after getting the job, these highly educated candidates might feel frustrated and other officials might hesitate in giving them orders,” said Ambika Chaudhari, the UP backward classes welfare minister.