Bhopal: Herculean Task- 33,03,699 job seekers and 16,686 vacancies

BHOPAL: Even if Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is able to keep his promise of providing one lakh jobs per month, his tenure will be over but not unemployment in state.

According to the employment portal of state government, mprozgar.gov.in, at present there are 33,03,699 active job seekers across the state. The portal also mentions that there are only 16,686 vacancies and 16,068 active employers in the state.

If Shivraj fulfills his promise of providing one lakh jobs per month then it will take over 34 months- almost three years to eradicate unemployment from the state.

After Covid , business has taken a severe setback and creation of jobs is the most challenging part, opine experts. Going by government data, there are only 16,068 active employers. The numbers of active employers need to be increased exponentially for job creation, which seems highly unlikely due to the situation created by the pandemic.

The promise of providing one lakh jobs per month is not new as it was made in the month of December last year as well. After that announcement to organize Rozgar Melas (employment fairs) in all districts was made that did not yield desired results.

The state government organized 301 employment fairs this year in January and February in which 33,948 youths were provided employment in private companies.

However, the state government, in the meantime, promoted 1,60,942 youth in self employment schemes.

Representatives of industrial associations including FICCI feel that it may take some more time for industries to boost production. Inflation and supply of raw material are the main challenges that are hindering boost in industrial production. Besides, demand in the markets are also on their lowest side.

All these factors need to be overcome then only there are chances of generation of employment, add experts.

As per government data, there are only 16,068 active employers. The numbers of active employers need to be increased exponentially for job creation, which seems highly unlikely due to the situation created by the pandemic.