Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar handed over appointment letters to 6837 candidates on Tuesday, including 6341 newly appointed junior engineers and 496 instructors in various departments of the state government.
Kumar has promised to provide government jobs to 12 lakh aspirants before the 2025 assembly elections. Out of which 9 lakh 13 thousand youths have been recruited so far, claimed the government.
Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary said that the Bihar government has been working sincerely on this front. He said that a total of 7 lakh 50 thousand aspirants were recruited during the first 15 years of Nitish Kumar’s term from 2005 to 2020.
Kumar has been continuing to fulfill his promises and taken the number of total recruitment to 9 lakh 13 thousand.
Kumar had promised the people of Bihar that he will not visit them asking for votes until he gives government jobs to 12 lakh youth of the state.
Since elections are due in October-November this year, providing government jobs to two lakh 87 thousand more aspirants seems to be a tough target.
There has been a constant political tug of war between the ruling NDA and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) over providing government jobs to Bihar youth. Samrat Chaudhary’s claim has further intensified the politics.
RJD spokesperson Ejaz Ahmad criticised the BJP leader for making claims about the creation of government jobs.
He said that the NDA is taking credit for the jobs that were offered during Nitish Kumar’s tenure when he was running the government along with the RJD and the Congress.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav keeps claiming that during his 17 months of tenure as Deputy Chief Minister, five lakh jobs were created, which is a record. Ever since the NDA government has returned, job creation has gone down.
The government’s claim and counterclaim by the opposition has left the job aspirants confused. Several job aspirants said that the government has claimed to recruit 9 lakh 13 thousand youths since 2005, out of which only 1 lakh 63 thousand were recruited during the past four years.
If recruitment continues with the same pace, it is hard to believe that the government will achieve the target of 12 lakh before the elections.