As India begins third phase of polls, young voters say they want more jobs

“Only two out of around 150 of my batch mates have found employment. Out of that, one has been recruited as an Agni Veer, which means he will be out of a job after four years,” Yadav said, referring to a new government programme to promote nationalism and skill building through a tour of duty in the military.

But across a number of interviews with residents of Uttar Pradesh – the state that accounts for the most seats in parliament’s lower house – This Week in Asia found that much of the public is worried about a lack of job opportunities and rising prices.

While the government has undertaken a number of initiatives to speed up the country’s development – including the building of expressways, the launch of high speed trains and the introduction of fiscal incentives for manufacturing – industries in many outlying areas continue to lag, despite buzz about India becoming the next factory to the world after China.

Uttar Pradesh has typically lagged its more prosperous counterparts such as Tamil Nadu in the south and Gujarat and Maharashtra in the west, but residents have seen major infrastructure improvements since the BJP came to power a decade ago, including a network of new highways and a steady electricity supply.

Yet many said they still struggle to make ends meet due to a lack of high income job opportunities and higher living costs.

Aftar Hussain, 25, who lives in Amethi’s Munshiganj area, is unemployed and at his wit’s end over how to support his family since his father, a milk vendor, passed away a few months ago.

“If you don’t have influence, you can’t get a job,” he said.

Many shopkeepers in the area struggle to pay mortgages and loans because the number of customers have steadily dropped to a trickle as consumers can’t