Vishal Maurya boarded the Ganga Sutlej Express at Akbarpur Junction in Uttar Pradesh (UP) on June 8. 22-year-old Vishal Maurya was going to Lucknow, 194 kilometers away by rail. During the seven-hour journey, what was running through Maurya’s mind was a plea. He just wanted to clear the constable-rank exam to be held in the Uttar Pradesh capital on June 10.
Maurya is a resident of Ghughurpatti in Ambedkar Nagar district and passed out from school four years ago. If he passes the test, he hopes to change his parents’ lives and lift generations of hardships off their shoulders.
His parents work as agricultural laborers in their village, and do not own land. “When they get the job, they earn ₹300. I aspire to change their fate. I studied diligently for the exam, inspired by my online teacher who shares inspiring stories of youth from similar backgrounds who have succeeded in becoming constables,” Maurya said. He said that for generations they have “lived a life of inferiority”. It was an opportunity “for people like us to change our lives”. Maurya is a first generation learner. He works part-time as a construction worker.
On June 9, he was at Lucknow’s Charbagh railway station along with thousands of others who had come to take the exam. Charbagh is the main railway station of Lucknow, located in the heart of the capital of UP, just 3 km from Lucknow’s downtown area and the main shopping centre, Hazratganj. Hazratganj was packed with candidates for the written examination for UP constable posts. Held during 8–10 June, all trains departing from or arriving at the station were fully booked. Thousands of UP constable aspirants are standing on the floor, many of whom are sitting in train toilets. There is hardly any space left to walk on the platform. Thousands of people are standing in queue to charge their phones through a few dozen charging points.
In the last week of December, 2025, UP notified 32,679 posts of police constable and equivalent posts, the lowest category of the workforce under the state police force. The registration process, which started on December 31, 2025, and ends on January 30, 2026, saw 28.86 lakh candidates fill the form to appear for the written exam at 1,183 centers across 75 districts. More than 1.35 lakh candidates were allotted exam centers in Lucknow.
platform of possibility
At the railway station, Maurya’s story was found resonating with a stranger, Vaibhav Chaudhary, 24, from Gorakhpur, a B.Tech graduate in computer science. Screen-locking his Oppo A3x5G smartphone, he said, “Everyone in this sea of people has a story full of urgency, frustration, hope and aspiration for this job. While giving the exam, I thought of my 15-year-old sister and the need to provide her with better educational opportunities, so that she doesn’t have to struggle like I did.”
Choudhary was battling the 40 degree Celsius heat wearing a yellow vest. He was returning after giving a recruitment examination from Barabanki, about 20 kilometers from Lucknow. To qualify, people must be between 18 and 27 years of age depending on the job, gender and reservation and have passed their highest school examination, class 12th.
Choudhary works as a gig worker in Gorakhpur. He says that there are hardly any office jobs in the private sector that match his education. “I was offered a job in an IT firm in Noida for ₹20,000. It was impossible to survive there on such a low salary,” he said. Noida is in UP and is part of the National Capital Region. “A constable’s job is far better than low-paid engineering jobs. It offers job security and stability and includes attractive perks and social security benefits like medical insurance and gratuity.” His parents are marginal farmers with four acres of land.
The forums were full of stories of people who were coming to take the exam, or leaving after taking the exam, or coming back after giving the exam. “I deliberately missed five trains before boarding the Suheldev Superfast Express, but still had to take a trip to the bathroom,” said Pushpesh Kumar, 21, a second-year BA English Literature student who took online coaching for the exam. He took the exam because “There are hardly any job opportunities for English graduates. I am working as a private teacher, making ends meet and preparing for government jobs.” His plan B is a government teaching job, “but it’s a long road because I need to do a B.Ed (bachelor in education).”
In view of the huge crowd of candidates, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) to provide 50% concession in fares to the candidates appearing for the exam. They just have to show their admit card to the bus conductors. Despite this, the public transport system in the state remained congested for at least three days, with many passengers with pre-booked train tickets complaining of not being able to board trains due to heavy rush of young candidates at several railway junctions.
test test
More than 21.92 lakh candidates appeared in the examination. The written examination consisted of 150 objective type multiple choice questions of two marks each. The written examination syllabus was divided into four sections: General Studies, General Hindi, Numerical and Mental Ability Test and Reasoning.
Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment and Promotion Board (UPPRPB), the recruitment agency, will prepare a list of shortlisted candidates who have qualified the written examination on the yet to be announced date. Since 2008, UPPRPB has been entrusted with the task of making selections for various non-gazetted posts including UP Constable. A senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer as Chairman of the agency heads and oversees all activities taking place on the Board.
The second stage is Physical Standard Test (PST), where height will be checked. For General and Other Backward Class (OBC) male candidates, the minimum height requirement is 168 cm, while the minimum chest measurement requirement is 79 cm (without expansion) and 84 cm (with expansion). The minimum height for General and OBC women is 152 cm and minimum weight is 40 kg.
In the final stage, candidates will have to undergo a physical efficiency test, in which men will have to run a distance of 4.8 km in 25 minutes and female candidates will have to run a distance of 2.4 km in 14 minutes. A new entrant will earn around ₹21,700 per month, with many benefits for government employees.
struggle and hope
Candidates outside an examination center in Lucknow, where they were appearing for the examination to qualify as constables. | Photo Courtesy: Sandeep Saxena
A section of the candidates participating in the recruitment drive come from farming families who are struggling to make a living in the Hindi heartland. A large number also belong to the educated, salaried section of the society.
Aman Singh, 22, holds a BSc Biotechnology degree from Basti district in eastern UP. His father is a retired teacher who taught classes 11 and 12. “I worked in a Dehradun-based firm for a few months. I filed the constable form because it is free from the instability of the private sector and offers protection against retrenchment,” he said. Singh said he left his job because the salary was only ₹18,000 per month. “The company believes there is a huge supply of labour, so at the entry level, they keep the salaries low and stable. Now, I live with my family in Basti, and am preparing for government jobs.”
9.24 lakh women candidates filed forms, most of whom were accompanied by at least one male member of the family during the journey.
Rachna Yadav, 24, from Lucknow, who has a BA in Economics, and teaches in a private school, has a similar story to tell: “In the private sector, we get informal and low-paid jobs.” His father, who is an electrician, was carrying the luggage, protecting him from the crowd. “For people like us, government jobs are the only way to social and economic progress. Every person who comes here is struggling; their families are struggling in this materialistic world,” he said.
Vibhuti Narayan Rai, a 1975 batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, served as the Director General of Police until his retirement. He says, in rural parts of the state, only a government job (Government job), even if it is at the lowest rung, is considered a job, because it commands respect and authority in the society.
“In an unstable economic scenario, government job This is a life-long safety net, while opportunities in private jobs are shrinking and instability is common,” he said. “Two people at the same level will get one-third the salary in a private job. I was the vice-chancellor of a central university, and four of the eight drivers were appointed permanently through the recruitment process. He was getting more than ₹45,000 as salary apart from social security benefits. The four drivers, who were hired on a temporary basis, were barely getting ₹18,000 without benefits. People want to be fully employed by the government.
A person selected for the post of constable can rise to the rank of Inspector in the state police force after approximately 25 years of service in the police service. He said that the first two years is the probation period. Generally it takes 8-10 years of service to get promoted to the post of Head Constable, then 8-10 years of service to get promoted to the post of Sub-Inspector. A team of one constable, one head constable and one assistant sub-inspector form the backbone of the police. “In a law and order situation, they are the first to reach the spot,” Rai said. It is the constable’s job to maintain links with local informers.
symbol of despair
Critics alleged that the staggering number of job seekers was indicative of the many challenges facing Uttar Pradesh. Samajwadi Party (SP) spokesperson Uday Veer Singh said, “Having more than 80 candidates competing for one constable post is indicative of multiple crises in the state. It points to the fact that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government has failed to create employment opportunities for lakhs of youth in the state.” He said that the government makes claims of investment from big companies, but nothing is changing on the ground. “Youngsters are wasting their years due to frequent paper leaks. Well-qualified people are applying for low-paying jobs out of desperation,” he said.
In view of past instances of irregularities, while insisting on a transparent and rigorous examination system, the Recruitment Board put in place extensive security arrangements and took legal action against those attempting to compromise the integrity of the examination. The recruitment board had on June 8 registered a case at Hussainganj police station against Telegram channel ‘UPP Exam Paper’ and Instagram account ‘UP Police Leak’ for their alleged involvement in selling fake question papers, which it claimed had been leaked. A case was registered against Instagram user Ashutosh Kumar Maurya in Azamgarh for allegedly doing so. He was taken into custody.
Lucknow-based veteran political commentator Sharat Pradhan describes the huge rush for the constable job as a symbol of frustration among the youth. “This points to a kind of crisis and a massive failure of the system in job creation. If a BA pass-out in English, or a B.Tech degree holder is competing for constable jobs in the police force, it shows that the overall system is not creating opportunities to utilize their skills and education,” Pradhan said.
Ajit Kumar Jha, an Oxford University-trained political and social analyst who has closely followed UP for four decades, says the state needs to take emergency steps to generate employment opportunities. “This reflects a structural problem with UP’s economy, as a large population is unemployed or underemployed. Many of them are skilled youth,” he said.
He said the crisis is all the more serious because UP is a state with a low average life expectancy due to fertility rates (2.4 between 2019-21 and 2.2 between 2023-24; India’s was 2 for both periods). According to Indian government data, the average age of UP is 24.7 years, which is the lowest in India.
“To fix the crisis, Uttar Pradesh needs an industrial and manufacturing revolution. This cannot be done only by creating jobs in the service sector,” Jha said.
mayank.kumar@thehindu.co.in
Edited by Sunalini Mathew
