Unemployment stalks CM's home district

Less than 2 per cent educated youths registered in Jorhat employment exchange got jobs in 10 years

A Correspondent

Jorhat, June 6: It is sometimes referred to as the State's cultural or literary capital. It also happens to be the home district of the Chief Minister, who is nearing completion of his consecutive third term. But those sobriquets are of little help for the educated youths of Jorhat district.

A day after Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi distributed tablet PCs among students securing second division in the HSLC 2014  examitions in Jorhat, an RTI reply has exposed how poor the employment scerio in the district is.

Between the period of April 1, 2004 and December 31, 2015, out of the total 40,541 educated youths who had registered themselves at the Jorhat employment exchange, only 605 got placements. Altogether 489 got government jobs and 116 were employed in the private sector, according to information provided by the Assistant Director of Employment Exchange in response to a query by Kasmir Kowstov Borthakur. "It means that only 1.48% of the registered youths got jobs in more than ten years. The remaining 39,936 are still jobless and without a secure future," said Borthakur.

The result is bound to shock many as it tends to belie the tall claims about development by the Tarun Gogoi government.

"If this is the situation in the Chief Minister's home district, imagine the situation in other districts. I believe it is particularly alarming in the backward districts," the RTI activist said.

"I sincerely thank the Chief Minister for taking the bold step of providing tablet PCs to the students but will these PCs be of any use to the user if they fail to get a job? This will in turn demoralize Assamese youths who will either go astray or in the worst scerio take up arms against the State," Borthakur added.