The grubby lanes of Musallahpur, in the north Indian city of Patna, heave with the foot traffic, banners and vending carts familiar to commercial hubs across India. Musallahpur is filled with brick-barn classrooms where 20-somethings crowd themselves and their heavy backpacks to train for standardized employment exams. With nearly 1,800 applicants for every one of the state’s top-tier jobs, they know it is the ultimate long shot. A thousand miles to the south, in the city of Coimbatore, a busy automotive parts entrepreneur, M. Ramesh, faces the flip side of India’s profound employment challenge. If the government has far more potential workers than it needs, Mr. Ramesh has far too few.

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Persons: Ramesh Locations: Musallahpur, Patna, India, Coimbatore