With Over 28 Lakh Unemployed Youths In The State, MP Reserves Govt Jobs Only For Locals

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced that jobs under the state government will only be for people from Madhya Pradesh.

Chouhan said that legal changes for this would be introduced soon.

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"The state government has taken a crucial decision today. Government employment in the state would only be open for people from the state. We are putting in place the necessary legal framework for it. The resources of Madhya Pradesh will only be for the residents of the state," Shivraj Singh Chouhan said.

An official statement quoted Chouhan as saying that students of the state will be taken in government services and "necessary statutory provisions will be made to ensure this".

The announcement came days after Chouhan said while addressing the Independence Day event that preference would be given to local youths for government jobs in the state.

"Madhya Pradesh youths will be given priority in government jobs. It is our duty to be concerned about the youths of our state at a time when job opportunities are scarce," Chouhan said.

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In May 2020, a survey conducted by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) had found that Madhya Pradesh's unemployment had rate increased 15.1 percentage points, rising to 27.5% which was even higher than the national average of 23.5%.

In fact, the number of youths unemployed in the state has been on the rise constantly and in 2019 alone over seven lakhs were added to the list.

In December 2019, the then chief minister Kamal Nath had informed the assembly that the number of registered unemployed educated youth in Madhya Pradesh has grown by seven lakh within a year to 28 lakh while about 34,000 youth got jobs in the same period.

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¡°The number of registered educated unemployed in MP in October 2018 was 20,77,222 and in October 2019, it is 27,79,725,¡± Kamal Nath had said.

Though the unemployment figures for 2020 is not available yet, given the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout, it is highly likely that more educated youths in Madhya Pradesh have become unemployed.

This is bad news for the Chouhan, who assumed office amid the pandemic after toppling the Kamal Nath government.