The Telangana government, as befits a newly-minted state with promises to keep, has increased the age limit for being eligible to take up a government job from 34 years to 44 years. At the other end of the spectrum, the Indian railways have done something similar. That's a decade at one fell swoop; surely Indians have not become that much younger? There are 15,000 vacancies for government jobs in Telangana. That a government can run with so many personnel gaps is truly amazing. But it is a reflection perhaps of how much work government employees do.
Survey after survey has shown that government jobs are preferable to even management occupations. The main reason is apparently job security. If that means you can get away with being paid for nothing, some part of the work ethic is missing in Indians. Abroad, the Good Book tells us that people are expected to live for threescore years and ten. They are expected to work for 70 years, give or take the shining morning school boy face (or phase).
These days in most developed countries people live longer. But that does not seem to have helped in extension of employment. In Japan people have long believed in employment for life. That is why attrition is practically unknown and you will find examples of workers brushing the dirt of a stray Suzuki because they are so proud of their product. But, yes, people who live longer must find some way to occupy themselves. Some have hobbies but these are difficult to develop in workaholics used to burning the midnight oil all 24 hours. So they leave the company they have given their life to and develop what is known as an encore career.
People are also taking a second shot at education. For those not in need of money the colleges beckon. B-schools are out; they are too expensive anyway. But it is not unusual to find 50 percent of a class on art criticism to have more seniors in it than regular starting-out-in-life students. In a different age, it would be called a wastage of money. Now it is termed broadening your horizons.
So how does that fit in with state governments in India extending the age at which a person may join government service. The motivation in India, an overpopulated, poor country is different. Here people like to work for as long as possible.
An HR manager gives the example of a father and son working for the same company. The father didn't even have a school leaving certificate. Hence, no proof of age. The son had some sort of a college degree. In the process of verifying age, the two were called in to provide what evidence they had. The son had his certificates. The father had to guess a number. His one motivation being to work the longest number of years, he drew a number out of a mental hat making himself as young as he could. Lo and behold, the father turned out to be the younger than the son. Child is surely the father of man, with apologies to William Wordsworth.