By Imna Longchar, TFM Nagaland Correspondent
Nagaland minister for Rural Development, Metsubo Jamir, on September 27 said that the rise in unemployment in the state of Nagaland is a “worry” as these youths become susceptible to extremism and become anti-social element.
He was speaking at the inaugural programme of the two-day Nagaland State Rural Livelihoods Mission (NSRLM) CXO (employers) meet and Job Mela at Hotel Saramati, Dimapur, held on the theme “Transferring rural youth into an economically independent and globally relevant workforce”.
The two-day meet is being supported by Deen Dayal Upadhya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDUGKY) with its motto “Empowering India, Powering the World”.
Stating that a human being to survive has to be employed wherein dignity of labour has to be instilled, Metsubo was of the view that Nagaland with a young population and with a literacy rate above the National average, unfortunately due to limited presence of companies and industries, almost everyone looks for government job which according to him is saturated.
He said that with the DDU GKY which is being beautifully designed by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) to tackle such issues of educated unemployment, the Nagaland government has ensured full support to NSLRM in order to ensure that this programme was implemented in quality to ensure rural youths from Nagaland get skilled and be eligible for job placements anywhere in the country.
Assuring to the participating 25 companies under the roof that the youths trained through DDU GKY in Nagaland as thoroughly trained and are ready for job as the training was very rigorous and all subjects are National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) aligned, the RD minister was all commended on the Naga boys and girls by stating they are “smart and a quick learners” and would be ready to go the
“extra mile” if given the right direction and support.
“They can contribute to the organization and become and asset if you guide them properly,” shared Metsubo to the CXO by also stating that there should not be hesitancy in employing Naga youths since there are many “good stories” of them doing well in their respective roles.
He later reminded that the government of Nagaland is doing its best to support programmes like DDU GKY to address unemployment and the companies coming to Nagaland was a good sign.
Earlier, the RD minister also released a book on “75 success stories of Naga Rural Youths through DDUGKY” while he also felicitated the PIAs and Alumni.
NSRLM rolled out DDU GKY in the state only during FY 2018-2019
Joint secretary, RD and Mission Director, NSRLM, Imtimenla, who also chaired the inaugural programme, in her keynote address while assuming that all the esteemed participants know that DDU GKY is the skill development and placement programme of the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), GOI, which is being implemented by all the states government in the country, she disclosed that in Nagaland, the Nagaland State Rural Livelihoods Mission (NSRLM) rolled out DDU GKY only during the Financial Year 2018-2019 and actual training of candidates started during Financial Year 2019-2000.
Citing reasons that unfortunately, the COVID-19 lockdown had an adverse impact while implementing the programme as training centres were forced to shut-down and even the trained and placed candidates lost jobs particularly in services and hospitality sector companies due to closure of some temporary and some others permanently, she disclosed that inspite of the many challenges faced, Imtimenla said NSRLM
brought on board more Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs) during the pandemic itself as it braced for post Covid-19 lockdown to ensure full strength once the restriction eased.
“The last few years of DDU GKY implementation has revealed the potential of our Naga rural youths as many are excelling in their job placements after successful training and during the last 3 years, we have trained 4510 rural youths in different trades ranging from construction to tailoring, food and beverage service to solar panel installation. Out of these, 2082 youths have joined the industry
workforce and continued to work for at least 3 months with few candidates having continued to work even during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Imtimenla informed.
Mentioning that a “breakthrough” was achieved as far DDUGKY Nagaland is concerned, she also informed that DDYGKY have been able to achieve international placement where two Naga girls got placed as Food and Beverage Associates at Anandara Resort & Spa, Al Jabal, Oman, thus hoping to achieve more international placements.
She also said frequently, it get updates from its Project Implementing Agency (PIA) partners that its trained candidates are recognized and awarded by their employers for their work commitment and hard work which only strengthen its believe that Naga boys and girls are second to none.
These are rural boys and girls having undergone training for just 3 to 7 months of training and yet, they are able to achieve such feats competing with other employees who could be coming from management background, she added. She further supplemented that as NSRLM conduct its first Employers Meet, it is felt that the same should have been done sooner and yet it is hopeful and confident that this is a good beginning.
The NSRLM mission director further went on to add that through the one-day event of CXO meet, the guests from outside the state would get to know more about Nagaland, its ready to work young population and that there will be no hesitation to employ Naga Youths. She also implored upon the 25 national companies participating to explore avenues to set up shops in Nagaland which was once “notorious” for various reasons but has now become a peaceful state as per a National Crime reports Bureau 2021, Nagaland State has the lowest incidence of crime against women.
She informed that on day-two (September 28), around 300 DDUGKY trained youths would be attending job interviews and hoped that job offers would be issued on the spot as the trainees are eagerly awaiting to join the workforce industry.
Later, while acknowledging the RD minister for his continuous support to DDUGKY programme in ensuring timely release of State matching share because of which the programme has been able to function without hindrances thus showing the governments’ sincerity towards addressing unemployment problems of the youths of Nagaland.
Nagaland’s performance under DDU GKY considerably well: Tenzing Choesang
North East Regional Representative, MoRD, Tenzing Choesang, who also spoke in the inaugural programme said that among the northeastern states, Nagaland was doing “reasonably and considerably well” as far as performance under DDU GKY was concerned.
She mentioned that some of the unique aspects of Nagaland was that the state is one of the few states in the country who has managed to successfully “onboard” local organizations as Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs).
According to Choesang, some of the local PIAs who has been implementing the DDU GKY for the past four to five years have got some of the highest placements which was commendable as far as the organization and the support that the mission has provided.
Stating that Nagaland is a state where local organization has been empowered, she said the knowledge and experience within the state has managed to set up most of the training centres within the state itself in monitoring the programme with an additional advantage of the projects in generating employment opportunities to the people.
She said at present most of the infrastructural requirements under DDU GKY in Nagaland is concentrated in Dimapur, however, Choesang shared on the importance of how the programme need to be visible at ground level to the people for which she requested the Nagaland team to take up the issue in order to explore the possibility of setting up a training centres in various districts including the
“aspirational district”.
“The ministry has allocated separate funds to the tune of Rs 30 lakhs per centre annually for setting up migration support centre which is supposed to be set up in places where most of the youths go for jobs so that when we move to the cities, atleast there is a support system for them,” Choesang added.
As Nagaland has already set up a centre in Delhi, she sought the Nagaland RD minister’s guidance in order to set up more such centres in different cities across the country so that when the youths migrate to these cities, the kind of services and supports are available to them.
Others who spoke included learning and development manager, The Den, Bengaluru, Dean Clyde Cooper, Managing Director, Talent Acquantance, Anil Makwana.
Trainees of Bhawani Marketing Pvt Ltd and ASSOCHAM enthralled the gathering with special numbers, while vote of thanks was proposed by Chief Operating Officer-skills, NSRLM, Menuoneituo Chadi. After the brief programme, an open house discussion was also held among the participants led by State Programme Manager-skills, NSRLM, Vesuyi Tetseo.