Shillong, Feb 26: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday rejected opposition claims that the state’s employment policies have failed, asserting that job creation schemes were yielding results for the youths.
Responding to Trinamool Congress legislator Dr Mizanur Kazi during Assembly proceedings, Sangma said concluding that government policies had failed would be incorrect, citing varying unemployment estimates from different surveys.
“To jump to a conclusion that the policy is a failure would not be correct. If you look at surveys, they differ — 6.0 in 2022-23 and 6.2 in 2023-24 in the periodic labour force survey, and 3.1 in CMIE’s estimate,” he said.
He added that around 3.66 lakh jobs had been generated in recent years and stressed that Meghalaya’s youthful demographic profile, with nearly half the population below 20 years, required sustained employment interventions.
“Maybe we have not yet fully fulfilled the goal, but it is a process, and we are on the right track,” the chief minister said.
Highlighting government initiatives, Sangma said Rs 140 crore had been sanctioned under the FOCUS scheme to 22,500 producer groups benefiting around 2.1 lakh people, while FOCUS+ had reached another 1.5 lakh beneficiaries.
Referring to the CM-Elevate programme, he said 22,000 applications were received within 20 days, prompting the temporary closure of the portal due to the high response.
During the discussion, the chief minister also suggested a crash course in local languages for legislators amid the government’s push to mandate Khasi and Garo proficiency for certain public jobs.
“It would be nice if we have some classes for MLAs, a crash course for 10 or 15 days, where members from Garo Hills can learn Khasi and those from Khasi-Jaintia can learn Garo. This would send a good message that we are leading from the front,” he said.
Kazi had raised concerns that mandating local language proficiency for District Selection Committee posts could disadvantage unemployed youth in plain belt areas where language infrastructure remains limited, urging the government to provide training facilities and adequate preparation time.
Sangma clarified that the policy was not aimed at exclusion and would require only basic communication skills rather than literary knowledge.
“If they cannot speak Garo and Khasi, it will affect service delivery since they will be dealing with the local population. This is not meant to deprive anybody, but to ensure basic communication with the people we serve,” he said.
He also pointed to recent cabinet decisions mandating Khasi and Garo in primary schools, with textbooks already being developed, and said concerns related to grammar requirements could be examined.
On governance reforms, Sangma said steps were being taken to digitise employment exchanges and highlighted the CM-Connect platform as a tool for grievance redressal and monitoring of schemes.
“I assure the House that schemes and programmes will have more impact in the days to come,” he added. (PTI)
