Digifest: Startups in state feel sidelined

JAIPUR : Nothing attracts youths more than the prospect of a job. But, if it comes along with a free T-shirt, food coupons and chance to move around with friends in a festival kind of setting, the trap is laid. Job or no job, for many it’s the experience that matters.
With close to dozen huge event tents, roadside stages on JLN Marg blaring music and standies narrating digital initiatives of the state government, the atmospherics of a grand Digifest was on display.

By claiming that 6,500 students will be recruited by 125 companies, the state IT department, organizer of the event, has created the right notes. Around 27,000 youths have registered for jobs with 6,000 of them giving interviews to companies in the job fair on Monday.

But the startup community was far from being upbeat. A startup mentor in the city said the state government always talked about the entrepreneurial spirit of Rajasthan and encouraged youths not to be job seekers but job providers but strangely there is hardly any meaningful participation by them in the event.

Most of the leading incubators and accelerators in Rajasthan like Startup Oasis, TiE, Rajasthan Angel Investors Network are conspicuous by their absence.

“The department has not reached out to the startup entrepreneurs in Rajasthan. Only a handful of them are participating. Leading incubators and accelerators have been side-lined and are not part of it. It’s more of a departmental show exhibiting digital initiatives they have introduced. The booths are largely dominated by government departments,” said the startup mentor.

Some of the sessions dedicated to entrepreneurs wore a deserted look . TOI visited a couple of them and found that the attendance was not inspiring.

Though the thrust of the event was always on encouraging entrepreneurship, bringing in investors, innovators, accelerators, and incubators, emphasis on jobs this year is not surprising.

The BJP-led government had promised to create 15 lakh jobs in its current tenure. Digifest could be the last all-out effort to send the message that creating jobs remains a priority for the government.