For ‘ghar ghar naukri’, govt banking on private sector

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 21

Banking on private universities and colleges in the state, the Congress government today declared to fulfil its poll promise of “ghar ghar naukari” by kickstarting an 11-day statewide mega job fair, beginning today from the campus of Chandigarh University at Gharuan near here.

Coming to the rescue to the fund-starved government, the educational institutions, which otherwise annually organise job fest for their students as part of their academic exercise, are now providing their infrastructure and resources to the government to implement its flagship employment campaign.

The Capt Amarinder Singh government has announced to handover appointment letters to 50,000 youths selected at the job fairs in the first phase. However, nearly 4 lakh jobseekers have already registered on the government portal of “ghar ghar naukari”.

Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, who today inaugurated the first in the series of statewide job fairs at Chandigarh University, defended the government move saying the job fairs by private institutions were not up the mark and there was generally lack of confidence among the students.

But now the government in a first-of-its-kind initiative is actively engaged as a facilitator between the private companies, educational institutions and students in organising the mega job fairs. “Never have 832 companies, 21 venues and 50,000 students were brought on one platform,” said the minister.

He said the government was setting up a research centre for upgrading syllabus of technical education and industrial training. Experts from the field of industry and technical education would be part of the panel to make syllabus of the ITIs and technical education as per the present and future needs of the industry. Every three years, the syllabus would be reviewed and upgraded in consultation with experts.

Satnam Singh Sandhu, Chancellor, Chandigarh University, said the job fest would go a long way in building confidence among all stakeholders.

Focus on soft skills

The government is reportedly contemplating to invest in soft skill development of unemployed youths, instead of paying Rs2,500 per month as allowance for a period of up to 36 months under the “ghar ghar naukari” campaign. As per official estimates there are over 20 lakh youths and a huge amount was required for unemployment allowance. By spending on soft skill training courses, the youths could be gainfully employed. An announcement in this regard is expected soon.