Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, MAY 15
Chief Minister TR Zeliang on Friday claimed that the present DAN government, under his command, would leave no stone unturned to provide employment to “the deserving” youths of the state.
Speaking at the Job and Career Fair – a joint initiative of the state government and the non-governmental group YouthNet – here in Dimapur, Zeliang stated that the “problem” of unemployment in the state was “something very, very serious.”
He said that ‘we must focus’ on producing “employable educated youths” by introducing vocational education in schools and colleges. Another way, Zeliang said, was to establish skill based training institutes in the state.
Along this line, the state government would be soon introducing a “Tata and Diesel training center” at ITI, Kohima, he announced. The Chief Minister said that the challenge of unemployment was “too big a problem.”
Every year the state government spends 60% of the annual budget on paying salaries to government employees and pension money to retired employees, Zeliang informed. Even the state’s high literacy rate has its own “new dimension of problem”, according to the CM.
This new dimension of problem has been in the form of “educated unemployed” youths, whom the state government cannot employ in the government sector since government jobs in the state have reached “saturation point”, he said.
The only way out is for employment outside the government sector for which the youths must be trained with specific skills. “We have to change our mindset, not from the bottom, but from the top. We need to accept to this challenge,” Zeliang said. The job fairs and the career seminars should also be a source encouragement to the youths, he felt. Citing a previous instance where “only” 1000 youths were reportedly selected out of the 8000 registered at a job fair, Zeliang said that the focus should be on quality and not on how many are registered at the fair.
“Our achievement (success rate) should be 80-90% (of number of youths selected). Otherwise 20% success rate will only discourage the youths,” he said.
Zeliang also suggested the YouthNet team to classify the unemployed youths as those with college degrees and those with specialized academic degrees. “That way it will be easier for the government to handle the problem.” The Chief Minister also inaugurated the 48 stalls which have been setup by various business groups/organizations and institutions offering over 500 jobs placements in different cities of the country.
Parliamentary secretary for Labor & Employment (including skill development) & Border Affairs, Mmhonlumo Kikon suggested that skill development should be accompanied by skill upgrade programs. He informed that this point, along with other suggestions like inclusion of skill development in school textbooks/curriculum, was discussed at a recent national level meet in Shillong.
The inaugural program was conducted by Commissioner & Secretary, Planning & Coordination & Labor & Employment, Mhonbemo Patton.
