Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that the youth were now faced with more closed doors than open ones as he interacted with students and job aspirants in his Chhatron ki Goonj (Voice of Students) outreach programme in Dehradun.
“Every year, crores of houses in India have young people like you leave behind their normal lives to prepare for exams,” the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha told the gathered crowd. “Only a few siblings get to work towards an exam in a household because parents cannot afford to let all children prepare. For the salaried class, Rs 9 lakh for five years is a lot, and if two, three, or four children are to go this way, they will not be able to provide the opportunity.”
Addressing a constituency aggrieved by paper leak scandals and unemployment, he criticised the prevailing situation in the country, saying the manufacturing sector has been slow in generating jobs, entrepreneurship has been “captured by four-five businessmen”, and corporate jobs are increasingly being weeded out by AI, leaving the youth to look for government jobs.
Uttarakhand has witnessed repeated protests over alleged paper leaks in its own recruitment examinations. Last September, demonstrations erupted over allegations that the question paper for an examination conducted by the Uttarakhand Subordinate Services Selection Commission (UKSSSC) had been leaked. As protests intensified, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami met youth representatives and agreed to their demand for a CBI inquiry. In 2023, another wave of protests followed allegations that question papers for the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission (UKPSC) patwari and accountant recruitment examination had been sold to aspirants, forcing the cancellation of the examination. The BJP government subsequently introduced legislation to curb cheating in recruitment examinations.
On Friday, Rahul Gandhi said, “There are 9 crore youths at the door for a government job, but they have several hurdles in their path. They encounter prohibitive financial costs, family pressures, and the issue of the age limit, before six lakh candidates finally go through the door. This means one in every 150 candidates.”
Aspirants speak
Bringing four government exam candidates to the dais, Gandhi spoke with them about their experiences in the education sector.
One of Kalpana Joshi, an Uttarakhand services exam candidate, said she has been preparing for exams since 2020. “My first exam was in 2022, and when I got out of the exam centre, I came to know that the paper had been leaked. In 2022 and 2023, 13 exams were cancelled. It felt like the purpose with which I had set out to prepare, all my dreams came crashing down,” Joshi said.
Story continues below this ad
When another candidate, Arti Bhandari, said she had appeared for the recruitment test by the UKSSSC for Patwari in September 2025, a resounding roar came from the crowd. “I appeared for the retest in June after it was cancelled. I am still preparing for other tests,” she said.
Listening to her, Tamanna Kaintura (23) nodded from the crowd. A UKPSC aspirant since 2024, she has been preparing for multiple exams, with her eyes set on the Patwari recruitment test. In September 2025, the exam was cancelled after allegations of a paper leak, as pictures of the question paper were circulated by an aspirant while the exam was underway.
“We have seen several exams getting leaked, but we are not questioning anyone or holding people accountable anymore. On top of this, the commissions do not promptly conduct examinations in regular intervals. We are left waiting years before the recruitment test notification appears,” Kaintura, who hails from Tehri Garhwal, said. “No one talks about students, so when I heard of the programme, I thought I should attend,” she added.
Speaking to the four candidates on the dais, Gandhi said that 7.5 crore youth have been affected by 152 paper leaks, while the conviction rate remains zero. “This is just the tip of the iceberg. Only 152 is visible to us. In reality, we do not know how many go unnoticed. This is an insult to you, your family, and your hard work,” he added.
A father remembers
Story continues below this ad
Gandhi further brought Rajesh, the father of Riya Thapa, the 24-year-old who died by suicide after the cancellation of NEET. Displaying the pictures of 25 students who died by suicide, purportedly over the medical entrance exam, which was cancelled in May and re-taken last month, Gandhi said he wanted people to listen to one of the parents of such a student.
“My daughter was joyous when she came back home after the exam and said that the exam went well. After four days, when she found out that the paper had been leaked, she told me. She was troubled. She would study for 10 hours a day, would have her dinner at 6 pm, but would eat fruits and juice so she could be up till 3 am. She said she had worked for a year towards preparing for the exam, and would ask how she could study in a short window and appear again… I have come here with a heavy heart to ask you to raise our voice in the Lok Sabha. My life has been challenging without her… You do not have to resign from your post, but offer condolences for our losses,” Rajesh said, sobbing.
In the crowd, Prerna Bahuguna (23) said she started preparing for services exams last year. “I was so energetic about the prospects of studying and getting a government job. My family asked me to pursue a bachelor’s in education, but I didn’t listen. I prepared for seven months for the Patwari examination, and I did well. When I got to know of the paper leak, it was a tremendous blow. I appeared for the re-exam in June, but my morale was low, and I was sceptical about the exam and results. I was waiting for it to go wrong because you expect things to go wrong after repeated failures,” she said.
Standing next to her, Manoj Padiyar from Tehri Garhwal took time out from his regular training to attend the event. An Indian Army aspirant, Padiyar grew up with a strict regimen, much like several youths from Uttarakhand, which sends a large chunk of its workforce to the Army.
Story continues below this ad
After the Agnipath scheme was introduced, Padiyar, like others, turned to recruitment tests in the forest and police departments. A class 12 graduate, his options are limited, and he is running out of time. In a family with four siblings, he is expected to start earning within the next year.
“I started preparations for the recruitment test in 2023, and this is my last year. If I don’t manage to get into any of the lists, I will have to take up a private job. I can’t go on trying when my family is waiting for me to bring home the bread,” Padiyar said. He stays at a rented accommodation in Dehradun and did not renew his term at the coaching institute due to a financial crisis at home. “As he [Gandhi] said, we do not have the luxury to try again and again,” he said.