Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here on Saturday that the creation of employment opportunities will be vital to achieving the goal of a developed India, and the government was strengthening not just traditional avenues of employment, but also promoting some emerging sectors also for the purpose.
Modi was addressing a Rozgar Mela, via videoconferencing, after distributing 51,000 appointment letters to newly-inducted recruits to various Central government departments and ministries, joining the programme at 37 locations in the country.
He said along with traditional jobs, the government had promoted sectors like renewable energy, space, automation, and defence exports for the creation of employment. Drone technology has opened doors for fresh opportunities. The use of drones has increased in crop assessment and sprinkling of nutrients in agriculture, he said.
The prime minister said the drones are being used for land mapping for the Svamitva Scheme. The ICMR has made use of drones to transport medicines in the Lahaul-Spiti region of Himachal Pradesh.
The Khadi sector had revived in a big way, he said. Ten years back, khadi sales were just Rs 30,000 crore. Now they have crossed Rs 1.25 lakh crore. This had created employment in khadi textiles and village industries, and benefited women in a big way, he said.
The prime minister said tourism had great potential for direct and indirect jobs. The United Nations had declared Dhordo village on the India-Pakistan border in Kutch the Best Tourism Village, he said. Before this, the Hoysala temple complex in Karnataka and Shantiniketan in West Bengal were recognised as World Heritage sites. These developments encourage tourism and the creation of many related jobs.
Modi said a country may be mineral-rich or have a long coastline to get rich, but a vital input to realise the country’s natural resources will be its youth power. Today, India is creating opportunities to encourage its youth to get skilled and educated in many fields, with new IITs, IIMs, and IIITs, and schemes like PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana and the PM Vishwakarma Yojana.
The PM said the Rozgar Melas have completed one year and since October last year, lakhs of youth have been provided jobs in the Central government and NDA and BJP-ruled States joining the programme.
He said the Rozgar Melas across the country affirm the government’s commitment to interests of the youth. The Government is working in a mission mode to safeguard their future. “We’re not only providing employment but also maintaining a transparent system in place, which has instilled faith in the recruitment process among the youth,” Modi said.
He said the time taken for recruitment under the staff selection cycle has also been reduced to half. “The overall time between the notification of employment and the employment letter has been significantly reduced,” he said.
Several examinations under the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) are being conducted in 13 different regional languages, apart from Hindi and English, making it easier for job aspirants to break the language barrier, the Prime Minister said. He told the recruits to be “vocal for local” as this would create more jobs.