West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari alleged that the state’s employment situation had deteriorated under the previous Trinamool Congress government because of its “anti-industry” policies.
The chief minister said that the BJP government is now focusing on skill development, industrial growth and transparent recruitment to generate jobs.
“For years, industries did not come to Bengal and, as a result, ancillary industries also failed to develop. Sectors like MSMEs and food processing, despite their immense potential, were neglected,” Adhikari said while addressing a Rozgar Mela on Wednesday.
“We are trying to create an industry friendly atmosphere so that industries come to Bengal. We are also focussing on skill development and a transparent recruitment process,” the chief minister said.
The Chief Minister said West Bengal has one of the country’s best human resources and stressed the need to harness that talent through skill development.
He said the state government would establish more technical institutions and strengthen high-skill and semi-skilled training, noting that conventional academic education alone cannot meet the demands of the job market.
Adhikari alleged that investors had turned away from Bengal during the previous regime, resulting in poor industrial investment.
Referring to the Centre’s Vishwakarma Yojana, he said around 8.65 lakh applications had remained pending as the state had not participated in the scheme earlier, adding that the BJP government had forwarded all the applications after assuming office.
The chief minister also announced plans to upgrade the state’s polytechnic institutions and said private educational institutes would be held to higher standards of accountability and transparency.
Alleging excessive commercialisation in the sector, he said institutions could no longer operate on a “collect fees and issue certificates” model.
Calling the youth the leaders of a “Viksit Bharat”, Adhikari said the government would make recruitment to bodies such as the School Service Commission and College Service Commission free from political influence by following the standards adopted by the Union Public Service Commission and the Centre’s employment system.