The Job Calendar, released on 2 August 2024 by Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu in the Telangana Assembly, was touted as a major step forward in fulfilling the Congress government's employment promises. However, a year on, aspirants claim that little has materialised on the ground.
Published Aug 02, 2025 | 8:13 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 02, 2025 | 8:13 PM
Mock rituals mark the first anniversary of Telangana Job Calendar
Synopsis: The protest was symbolic. If the government does not heed the demands of job aspirants, they plan to fight the elections — not to win, but to ensure the Congress’s defeat.
In a symbolic and satirical protest, job aspirants from Hyderabad’s Ashok Nagar marked the first anniversary of Telangana’s 1st Job Calendar with a mock funeral on Saturday, 2 August, expressing frustration over the lack of progress on government job notifications.
The Job Calendar, released on 2 August 2024 by Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu in the Telangana Assembly, was touted as a major step forward in fulfilling the Congress government’s employment promises. However, a year on, aspirants claim that little has materialised on the ground.
To mark what they termed the “first death anniversary” of the Job Calendar, a group of aspirants gathered at Gandhi Nagar Park on Saturday morning. They printed a placard commemorating the occasion and conducted a mock ‘Pindapradanam’—a traditional Hindu ritual performed in memory of the deceased.
Floral tributes, garlands, and fruits were placed around the placard in what they described as a symbolic funeral for the unfulfilled promises.
Speaking to South First, N Ravi Rathod, a member of the Aspirants’ Joint Action Committee (JAC), explained the rationale behind the demonstration.
The ritual site.
“Given the first anniversary of the issuance of the Job Calendar, we decided to perform a ‘Pindapradanam‘ in its memory as we deem it dead,” Rathod said.
“We deemed it dead on arrival, given that it was already delayed from the earlier Job Calendar promised in the 2023 (election) manifesto. Till date, there have been no notifications for any of the jobs, despite the government patting itself on the back for providing some 60,000 (jobs), god knows where.”
Rathod pointed fingers at top state leaders, accusing them of inaction and misplaced priorities. “While we blame IT minister D Sridhar Babu for the death of the first Job Calendar, we blame Bhatti for the second,” he added.
Despite their protest, the aspirants said they are not giving up. Rathod emphasised that their strategy includes both continued engagement with the government and the possibility of electoral participation.
“We do not plan on giving up. However, we are pursuing a negotiation channel with the government,” he said. “MLC Addanki Dayakar has promised to take the concerns of Ashok Nagar (where aspirants reside in large numbers) and the delegation of aspirants directly to the chief minister to resolve the issue. If the meeting does not happen, or the issue makes no headway, we will exercise our democratic rights in the upcoming Local Body Elections,” he revealed the plan.
The group has also floated the idea of mobilising unemployed youth to contest elections as a form of protest. “We hope that the government issues the notification, without litigation, before the Local Body Elections. Otherwise, we will prepare a campaign of ‘Go Back to your Village’ where we prepare our unemployed candidates to fight in the elections,” Rathod said. “Even if we can’t win, we will make sure that the Congress, which failed us, will not win.”
This protest is not isolated. Last year, Ashok Nagar made headlines for massive student and aspirant protests, with numerous protesters detained.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
