PATNA: Ahead of Bihar assembly elections, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday promised one crore government jobs employment opportunities for the youth, and setting up a skill university, to be named after former CM and socialist leader Karpoori Thakur, in the next five years.
Assembly polls in Bihar are to be held in October-November and NDA allies have already declared that the election would be contested under Nitish’s leadership. Nitish’s announcement for one crore jobs and employment opportunities came barely days after state cabinet approved a proposal to set up Bihar Youth Commission, apparently to target young voters.
“It has been our vision to ensure that more and more youths in the state receive government jobs and employment opportunities. Between 2005 and 2020, over eight lakh youths in the state were provided with government jobs.
We resolved to provide government jobs to 10 lakh youth and employment to 10 lakh people in 2020 under the good governance programme, ‘Saat Nischay-2’. Later, this target was increased to provide jobs to 12 lakh youths and employment to 38 lakh people by August 2025, setting a total target of 50 lakh jobs/employment opportunities,” Nitish wrote on ‘X’.
“The target of providing government jobs/employment to over 50 lakh youth will certainly be achieved. In this
context, for the next five years (2025 to 2030), we are setting a target to double the goal fixed for 2020-2025 by providing government jobs and employment opportunities to one crore youths,” he said.
“To achieve this, new job and employment opportunities will also be created in the private sector, particularly in industrial areas. For this purpose, a high-level committee is being constituted. Currently, the youth of the state are being provided with skill development training to connect them with self-employment opportunities under the Saat Nischay programme,” the CM added.
He announced that in the next five years, the programme under Saat Nischay for the youth skill development will be expanded. “In the coming time, a skill university will be established, which will be named Jan Nayak Karpuri Thakur Skill University in honour of Bihar’s pride, Bharat Ratna Jananayak Karpuri Thakur ji, so that the youth of the state can find a new direction in skill development,” he said.
JD (U) leader Neeraj Kumar said, “It is not a promise, but a resolve”. Congress spokesperson Asit Nath Tiwari claimed that the Nitish government could give only four lakh government jobs from 2005 to 2020 while five lakh posts were still vacant in government departments. “He is making tall promises ahead of elections apparently for political gains,” he added.
RJD spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwari said, “Nitish’s promises are mere political gimmickry, intended at wooing voters before the assembly election.”