Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said on Wednesday that over 34,000 vacant government posts in Gujarat would be filled up this year as he urged the young and students to have faith in the dispensation led by him. In his New Year message to youths of Gujarat, Rupani slammed the Congress over the issue of unemployment and transparency, alleging that the opposition party was creating confusion among people for “political gains”.

“A lot of confusion has been created for some time among youths and students by some people for political gains. I want to tell you that my government will ensure that the hard work of youths does not go in vain,” Rupani said in a video message shared on his Facebook account on Wednesday.

“In the last three years, we have given government jobs to 1.18 lakh youths. In the current year, we will conduct recruitment to fill up another 34,000 to 35,000 government posts,” he said.

During the Congress rule (before 1995), there was a “ban” on recruitment. It was the BJP government that opened the doors for youths, Rupani said in his message. Referring to the paper leak and cancellation of exam for non-secretariat clerks in the state recently, Rupani said the exam would be conducted soon and in a “foolproof manner”.

“We are committed to conduct the exam with greater transparency. After receiving complaints from youth, we cancelled the exam after proper inquiry. Even the police arrested all the accused involved in it (paper leak). Now, we will conduct the exam in a foolproof manner,” he said.

Last week, six people, including the principal and administrators of a school, were arrested here in connection with the non-secretariat clerk exam paper leak case. The state government last month cancelled the exam conducted on November 17, stating that the question paper had been leaked.

Rupani said his government would provide employment to over 12 lakh youth in the private sector by conducting over 5,500 job fairs across the state. He, however, did not specify any timeline for it.

“We want the youth to be job-givers instead of just job-seekers. Efforts are also being made to ensure that students get jobs as they pass out from universities. I want to tell you that Gujarat’s unemployment rate is lowest in the entire country,” Rupani said in his message.