– Lokendra Singh
On the initiative of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the government has laid the foundation of ‘Mukhyamantri Seekho-Kamao Yojana’. The aim of the government is that on the basis of this scheme, a beautiful building of ‘Atmanirbhar Yuva-Atmanirbhar Madhya Pradesh’ should be erected. Undoubtedly, if the youth have skill in their hands, then they will go ahead and sacrifice themselves in the yagya of nation building. Today, not only the state, but the biggest strength of the country is our youth population. India is the country with the largest youth population in the world. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report ‘The State of World Population Report-2023’, 26 percent of the population in India is in the age group of 10 to 24 years. At the same time, the maximum 68 percent of the population is in the age group of 15 to 64 years. On the one hand this is a pleasant fact, on the other hand a difficult challenge is also in front of us to use this youth power in the right direction. Some are talking about giving ‘unemployment allowance’ to the youth, while some are trying to amuse them in some other way, amid all such discussions, Shivraj government of Madhya Pradesh has launched a commendable scheme in the form of ‘Mukhyamantri Sikho-Kamao Yojana’. And has taken exemplary initiative. There are many reasons to believe that ‘unemployment allowance’ could have blunted the edge of youth power. A permanent solution could not be found by giving only four-five thousand rupees in the hands of the youth. Chouhan and his government took a good decision that by teaching the work of their interest to the youth, their hands should be empowered forever. On the basis of their educational qualification, financial assistance ranging from Rs 8,000 to 10,000 will also be provided to the youth during training. That is, the youth will earn along with learning the skill and after learning, many avenues of earning are bound to open for him. It is appropriate for the Chief Minister to say – ‘Unemployment allowance is meaningless. The new scheme is a scheme to give wings to the youth by enhancing their capacity, so that they can fly high in the open sky and they get new opportunities for employment, progress and development. Under the Mukhyamantri Sikho-Kamao Yojana, 703 work areas have been identified to teach skills to the youth, including engineering, electrical, mechanical, civil, management, software development to marketing, hotel management, tourism, travel, hospital, IT sector and Services sector included. An important thing is that whoever registers under this scheme, they will not be given food supply training, but they will get training according to the demand of the industry at present. The government is tying up with reputed institutions so that the youth get practical training in those institutions only. This will create double opportunities for the youth. The institutions in which the youth will get training, it is quite possible that after training, the youth will also get the opportunity to work in those same institutions. The first phase of this important scheme will start from June 7, under which registration of institutions providing training to youth will be done. In the second phase, registration of youth willing to learn work will be started from June 15 and in the third phase, placement will start from July 15. Youth will start working under this scheme from August 1. Experts who review government schemes are also considering this scheme as a revolutionary initiative. They also believe that instead of spoiling the habit of the youth by giving free money, this innovation which teaches them to stand on their own feet is welcome. The youth of the country and state have to be appreciated that they too do not have the greed of earning without hard work. Remember, before the last Lok Sabha elections, the dream of giving ‘Basic Income’ to every person was shown. But the youth rejected this idea because he wants to learn skill, wants to earn livelihood from his skill. The youth understand that for earning free money, the country and the society may have to pay a heavy price. We must remember that the citizens of Switzerland have also presented a great example to the world by rejecting the idea of ​​’sitting at home and getting paid without working’. Around the year 2016, when the debate is going on in the world that in order to remove the lack of employment, poverty and economic inequality, every person sitting at home should be given a minimum and equal wage, at that time the proud citizens of Switzerland came up with this idea. The message has been given by rejecting this system that instead of solving the problems, it will become more entangled. Daniel and Eno started the campaign for Universal Basic Salary in Switzerland. According to his proposal, every citizen of Switzerland or a person living there regularly for five years should be given a minimum wage of about Rs 42,000 per month for children and Rs 1,71,000 per month for adults. When the Swiss government conducted a referendum (voting) on ​​the proposal of basic salary, 77 percent citizens gave a clear message that free money is not good for the country, society and individual. According to a figure in the context of Madhya Pradesh, about 37 lakh educated are unemployed. However, it would not be fair to call everyone unemployed, as a large number of these youths are those who are still pursuing higher education and may also include youths who will not be satisfied with their current work. Overall, it has to be said that the state government has a great responsibility to provide employment to a large number of youth or make them skilled to create employment. The satisfying thing is that realizing its responsibility well, the government has started taking concrete steps in the right direction to make the youth self-reliant. This government is also providing opportunities for the youth who want to join government service. The recruitment process for one lakh posts is being conducted by the government. It would be necessary to mention here that Shivraj government is building India’s largest ‘Sant Ravidas Global Skill Park’ in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, for the purpose of training youth and connecting them with employment. It is being constructed in an area of ​​30 acres with the technical consultation and cooperation of Singapore at a cost of about Rs 1 thousand 548 crore. At the beginning of the Global Skill Park, 6 thousand youth will be given employment-oriented training, later the state government has set a target of training about 10 thousand youth every year and connecting them with employment. Evaluating the efforts of the government from an overall point of view, then it is clearly visible that in order to realize the concept of self-reliant India and self-reliant Madhya Pradesh, the Shivraj government is encouraging the youth to become skilled through skill upgradation as well as entrepreneurship. Has been If the youth adopt entrepreneurship, then employment opportunities will be created at a faster pace in the state. In this context, Shivraj Singh Chouhan has also expressed his resolve- ‘Our efforts for self-employment are continuing. Employment Day is being organized every month. It is our resolve that the youth will not be left unemployed. ‘Chief Minister’s Seekho-Kamao Yojana’ can play an important role in fulfilling his resolution.
(The author is assistant professor at Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication.)
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