Gogoi favours Gujatrat and Karnataka models to tackle joblessness in Assam

GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister TarunGogoi might have launched vituperative attacks on his Gujarat counterpart NarendraModi in the past, but when it comes to taking a leaf out of the BJP-ruled Gujarat’s success, he doesn’t shy away.


Gogoi asked his officials to study the Karnataka and Gujarat models for making the 52 employment exchanges in the state as vibrant employability centres. Their functioning should go beyond that of registration to that of ' Centre for Employment', he said.

He has often claimed that Assam’s human development index is far better than that of Gujarat’s. Reviewing the work of the Employment Generation Mission (EGM), he said. "The unemployment problem has to be tackled on a mission mode — by creating employment opportunities and making our youth employable in a variety of skills and vocations. An action plan to generate more such opportunities has to be taken up."

The officials of the EGM apprised the chief minister that the mission has been able to place successfully 16,056 youth in different vocations after imparting short-term training to them at a cost of Rs 36.31 crore till August. For the current financial year, the mission has been able to place 3,213 people as against a target of 12,000.

Cluster-bound development programmes are being taken up by the EGM in floriculture and horticulture sectors. The chief minister emphasised on keeping a track of the placements to maintain a proper record.

Gogoi underscored the need for revamping of infrastructure of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and employment exchanges. He asked the officials to fill up the posts of faculty and staff in ITIs on a contractual basis through the formation of society .

There are 28 government-run ITIs and 38 privately managed ITIs in the state. Around 11 more are nearing completion with 15 in the pipeline.

Vocational training improvement project — Centre of Excellence — under the World Bank-aided project at a cost of Rs 24.50 crore in seven ITIs have been taken up. The officials informed the chief minister that a proposal for Rs 135 crore has been submitted to the central government for women’s ITIs in Jorhat and Nalbari. They said that 201 approved short-term courses are being imparted under the Modular Employable Skills (MES), a flagship programme of the Centre.