Reflecting incompetence of the Govts : The call of DoNER Minister
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: March 04, 2015 -

Go back home as empowered youth rather than staying at Delhi.

This was the call sounded by Union DoNER Minister Dr Jitender Singh while addressing North East students studying at the Jawaharlal Nehru University or JNU at Delhi on March 2.

Who does not want to return home as empowered lots and it is here that the observation of the DoNER Minister gains credence.

Not only students from JNU, but students studying in other universities of India too must really want to return to their home States.

After all who does not want to settle at one’s home ?

The call of Dr Singh is appreciated, but the bigger question is why a good number of educated youth from the North East in general and Manipur in particular opt to stay outside.

Has any thought been given on why educated youngsters prefer to make a living outside the region or to be more specific outside Manipur ?

A question which the Government should seriously study.

Not exactly brain drain, but it says something significant that a good number of promising youngsters prefer to pursue their career outside the State and this should be a good reason for the State Government to mull over this.

With the State Government unable to absorb and give jobs to the thousands of students who pass out from different universities each year and in the absence of corporate houses, it is natural for educated youngsters to hunt for greener pastures outside.

Moreover it is also a fact that the few jobs which the Government can offer are at most times up for auctioning with only those able to pay through their noses landing the jobs.

And not everyone can meet the price of each Government job.

It was not just a pep talk but reflects the rot and incompetence of the different State Governments in the region.

The State Government has not only failed in absorbing the large number of educated youngsters who pass out each year, but has also pathetically failed in working out policies which can attract the big, corporate houses to set up shops here.

It is to earn a respectable living that a large number of educated youngsters from the region, particularly from Manipur, have settled down in other parts of the country.

Every single man or woman who settle down outside their home State is a reflection of the growing lack of opportunities to give them meaningful employment back home.

The issue of providing employment to everyone is obviously a problem everywhere, but when jobs come with a price tag then it is a matter of serious concern.

Unemployment not only means absence of avenues for educated youngsters to find suitable jobs, but it also means offering ample scope for corruption to those holding positions of power and influence.

Unemployment is thus a vicious circle for such a situation can be to the advantage of some elements.

As Minister of DoNER Dr Jitender Singh would do well to study why the big talk of economic liberalisation has not had the desired impact in a place like Manipur and why corruption has been growing in tandem with the rate of unemployment.