BJP protests against Job Trainee Policy, calls it ‘anti-youth’

The BJP Legislature Party Tuesday staged a protest in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly complex against the state government’s Job Trainee Policy, calling it “anti-youth” and demanding its immediate withdrawal.

Led by former chief minister and Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, BJP MLAs raised slogans and accused the government of failing to deliver on its election promises, particularly regarding employment.
Thakur said the Congress had promised five lakh jobs and even announced one lakh permanent posts in its first Cabinet meeting but had now “vanished from the scene”. He alleged that instead of providing regular jobs, the government had created various “schemes for its close associates” and had snatched employment from more than 10,000 youths already working under different arrangements. He said corruption under the present government was “unprecedented”.

Thakur alleged that the CM’s close aides and their families had opened outsourcing agencies through which recruitments under different “Mitra Yojanas” were being conducted. He claimed that these agencies were collecting lakhs of rupees from job seekers even before official notifications were issued. Some of these individuals, he alleged, travel in the CM’s helicopter to project themselves as influential, and demand money. He added that the credibility and capacity of such agencies had been questioned even by the courts.

The LoP also criticised the government for failing to operationalise the State Staff Selection Commission even three years after its dissolution, saying this showed the government’s lack of intent to provide employment.