In an incident that has caused outrage in India and online, a 28-year-old man allegedly died by suicide after supposedly not being able to find a job in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram city on August 30.
According to local media reports, police confirmed the recovery of a suicide note in which the young man said was stressed because he was unable to find a job.
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The family has claimed the young man, identified as Anu, had secured a rank on the state's Public Service Commission list for a position as a civil excise officer, but was left without a job after the list was cancelled because all the vacancies had been filled.
According to an unnamed relative quoted by a local news agency, Anu ranked 77th on the Public Service Commission list (PSC) list.
"He had the 77th rank in the civil excise officer rank list, but the PSC cancelled the list and he was depressed. He was not speaking to anyone, not eating properly, sitting alone in the dark and all," the relative was quoted as saying.
Lopus Mathew, a member of the PSC, was quoted as saying there was no lapse on the part of the commission.
"It's unfortunate that such an incident took place. Once a list is published, it does not mean that everyone in that list will get a job. The job is given as per the vacancies," he was quoted as saying.
The list was cancelled after the 66 vacancies were filled, the PSC added.
The incident sparked outrage online as many claimed the government is mishandling job vacancies.
Commenting on the issue, tweep @Sayansarkar1610 wrote: “It's time to fight our own battle. Again student[’s] suicide in Kerala face[d] with cold sweat. #SpeakUpForSSCRailwaysStudents”
Another Twitter user, @learnerZ___, wrote: "[...] Depression and anxieties are getting normalised amongst aspirants. Government is just fooling us. When they release vacancy, we get a ray of hope, but eventually it converts into a vicious cycle."
The incident sparked protests by various political parties against the state government.
Reportedly, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president, Mullappally Ramachandran, is on a hunger strike over the suicide.
According to Indian media, police in the Kerala state capital are probing allegations related to the PSC issue as claimed by the family, as well as other angles.
The post-mortem was scheduled to be conducted on Sunday.
