Started by Mahagathbandhan, now almost every political party is promising for lacs of new job opportunities to the unemployed youth of Bihar. The initial big poll promise has been made by CM candidate for Mahagathbandhan, Mr. Tejashwi Yadav for 10 lac new job opportunities sanctioning during their first cabinet meeting once they come to power. This has been followed by BJP by announcing 19 lac new jobs in Bihar if they come back. Promises for millions of job opportunities can be counted as a master stoke for the parties in coming assembly elections specially in a state like Bihar where the unemployment rate is around 46.6%; a state which became synonym of unemployment, poverty and starvation.
Mahagathbandhan is demonstrating their concern about the condition in which migrant labourers travelled to their homes during the global lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic. They encompass current NDA government on lack of job opportunity in Bihar which is compelling people to move away from their soil, hence, promising voters to provide adequate job opportunities in their local areas. Their election manifesto promises that the government would provide enough employment opportunities to the youth and stop the talent and skills to step-out from Bihar. They are targeting the development model of Nitish government which has been ruling the state since last 15 years. However, NDA declared the RJD’s promise of job opportunities as a trump card during Bihar assembly election stating that no roadmap has been provided for achieving the said target of 10 lac jobs yet by them. NDA claims that they has proper blueprint to keep their promise for 19 lac new jobs.
Political leaders need to clear if they are planning for new industries to be setup in Bihar or these promised jobs will be from government sectors only. There are very few industrial setups are functioning in Bihar now. During early 90s when government introduced LPG (Liberalization, Privatization & Globalization) policies in India, a large number of industries and industrial area has setup in Bihar as well but with the passage of time they became victim of frequent strikes by labour unionsalsoa complete negligence for industrial development can be seen in policies and plans of Bihar Government. Indian Government has eased the industrial policies and started disinvestment in many sectors by inviting private players to run public sector owned businesses but all seems failed for Bihar. Furthermore, millions of contractual employees are already struggling for their permanent appointment in their respective departments. Considering these situations, providing 10 lac or 19 lac job opportunities in government sectors seem to be a nightmare.
Biharis are globally been recognized for their intellect and excellence however state is unable to retain and make optimum use their available human resources. Bihar has the oldest and globally acknowledged education system and institutions like Nalanda and Taksheela University. Despite of this a large number of young minds are stepping-out of Bihar every year to get better education and healthy lifestyle. The root-cause for this talent migration is lack of job opportunities and non- acknowledgement of talent.The only way for government to generate mass employment is to start focusing on providing various advantages and benefitsfor the investors to attract them towards Bihar for setting-up new ventures. Bihar need to rinse-off the image of chaos condition of 90s when external investors scared to come in the state; kidnaping followed by heavy ransom and extortion was very common those days. Industrialists can be attracted by giving a sense of security which they were missing in the decade of 90s. Industrial development can only be the way for Bihar to stop the migrationof human resources to different parts of the country.
*Pranay Mishra is an Academician and Management Consultant. He has been associated with renowned and prestigious Educational Institutes and Corporates like University of Delhi, GGSIP University, Axis Bank etc. for quite a long time. Author can be reached at: mepranay@gmail.com
