UP to hold job fairs for minorities

Lucknow: The minority welfare department in Uttar Pradesh is planning to collaborate with the state's labour and employment department to hold specialised job fairs for youth in areas dominated by minority communities.

UP minister of state for minority welfare Danish Azad Ansari on Friday wrote a letter to the additional chief secretary (labour and employment), asking him and related officers to be present for a meeting on the plan next Tuesday.

The UP government keeps conducting job fairs from time to time to help unemployed youth find gainful employment. The initiative follows another move by the department - of conducting a survey of unrecognised madarsas - taken on the request of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights. That decision had come under attack from some opposition leaders.


Speaking to ET, Ansari said: "In the Muslim minority community, there are different categories of youth. Some are highly skilled in handwork like zari-zardozi, weaving, etc., but do not have college degrees. Then there are also those who do not possess such skills but have degrees. The organisation of job fairs would be done in such a way that companies looking to employ both such kinds of youth are filtered for minority dominated areas."