Majority of people including bureaucrat officers of Manipur lack work culture: CM Ibobi
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, September 29 2014 : Majority of people of the state including the bureaucrats and officers of Manipur government lack work culture, stated Chief Minister O.Ibobi while speaking at the inaugural function of "One Day Workshop on Skill Development" organized by the Department of Labour and Employment of Manipur at Sangai Hall, Imphal Hotel Classic, here today.

Maintaining that unemployment problem among educated youths is one of the greatest global challenges which has a very striking effect in Manipur, the chief minister said that the state government's inability to provide jobs to educated youths of the state is a headache and that providing government jobs to all educated youths in the state is next to impossible.

Speaking as the chief guest during the programme, Ibobi said that amidst the loads of educated but unemployed youths in the state, the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), a unique Public Private Partnership (PPP) is a helping hand so that they can get employed with their appropriate skills.

NSDC which was launched in October 2009, has a mandate to skill 150 million people by 2022 and catalyse the creation of substantial, for-profit, skills training institutions across the country, the chief minister added.

Skill Development Workshop at Hotel Imphal :: Pix - DIPR

The chief minister then said that it is impossible to provide white collar jobs to all the youths of the state.

As such, he praised the initiative made by the nodal agency, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and hoped that unemployment problem in the state can be tackled to a certain extent.

The chief minister then appealed to the entrepreneurs of other states as well as foreign countries to invest in the state for setting up projects and industries, saying that his government would grant lands for such developments within a short time.

Meanwhile, Ibobi said that if the Government of India is unable to reform the Land Acquisition Act and Forest Clearances Act, then setting up of industries as well as taking up of various projects in the state would be a difficult task.

Harping on work culture in Manipur, Ibobi said that even high ranking officers and bureaucrats have poor records of punctuality or attendances from work.

He further said that in order to tackle this problem; the state government is trying to install biometric machines for recording attendance of the employees at various departments of the state.

Meanwhile, at certain departments where the biometric systems have already been installed, many employees have even tried to seek voluntary retirement from their jobs.

Due to losing of work culture at government offices, the process of recruiting more staffs would not be sufficient, Ibobi added.

He also told that due to the existence of large gap of status of living among the people of the state, the state often goes through chaos and confusion.

As such, the government has invited five professors from IIM Ahmadabad to discuss and form measures to bridge the gap which exists in the current living system in the state.

He also said that there are more than 10,000 Manipuris working in the field of Information Technology (IT) in other parts of the country.

As such, the government would invite them to study and bring up certain constructive ways to remove the disparity.

The programme was also attended by I.Hemochandra Singh, Minister of Labour and Employment, Additional Chief Secretary Nikhilesh Jha, and J..PRai, IAS, Director General, National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) as president and guests of honour.

Giving the presidential speech, I.Hemochandra stated that due to the ever increasing population in the world, the problem of unemployment rises even in Manipur.

As such, the initiative of the NSDC in providing assistance to youths by training them in specific fields is a major development.

The need for skill development is the need of the hour, maintained Hemochandra and said that the Home Ministry has provided various schemes for the jobless educated youths in the country which the youths can avail.

Giving the key note address, principal secretary, Labour and Employment department, Sohail Akhtar said that the main aim of the workshop is to encourage youths to take part in the nation building by making them understand how to absorb experts' views and opinions and develop their skills.

He also said that there are 12 Vocational Training Providers (VTP) and 11 ITI centres in the state.

He further told that under the Manipur State Development Society (MSDS), 687 youths of Manipur have been provided training, out of which 581 youths have already been provided jobs.

Meanwhile, J..PRai, IAS, Director General, National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), maintained that even though North Eastern states record a high literacy rate, the employment scenario is very low.

In India, there are 20 different centrally sponsored schemes for developing North Eastern regions which are sponsored by different ministries.