Patna: While Bihar is in the grip of electoral wind in view of the upcoming Assembly polls, the political temperature in Bihar is high on the issue of unemployment.
According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the unemployment rate in Bihar is lower than Delhi. As per the report, the unemployment rate in Delhi is 12.5 per cent, while in Bihar it is 11.9 per cent.
Bihar, where Assembly polls are due soon, the unemployment rate of 11.9% is likely to figure in the election campaign. The opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal-led grand alliance has already made jobs part of its election agenda with a promise to create 1 million jobs if voted to power.
There is a narrative around one’s own political ambition. They are leaving nothing unturned to make people believe that they are talking for their better future. The common man, however, is helpless in reading the writings on the wall of Bihar’s 2020 assembly polls. They are not able to understand much about what is being talked about by their leaders.
In the battle of ballots, politicians are offering almost everything to the people, which in fact will help electoral players more than others. What is totally missing is how the people will be helped in meeting both ends.
No one is talking about from where they will get jobs or gainful engagements for them.
In the din of politics for power, the issue of jobs is lost somewhere and no one is trying to locate this vital issue. There is dirty politics even over an important issue like addressing the problem of unemployment.
If one political party promises to give government jobs, the other one asks from where the money will come to give the salary.
The million-dollar question is: Will the youths get jobs after a new government is formed in Bihar?
There is no guarantee. This is the biggest issue in Bihar today. Unfortunately, there is no political unity to address the problem of unemployment, which has left the youths dejected in more ways than one.
The youths are the most hapless lot when politicians are fighting for power. The hope of the youth is getting lost in the noise of power hankers. The way politics and politicians have neglected youths over the years, there is not much scope for any hope.
Tejashwi Yadav has said if the RJD is voted to power, his government will give 10 lakh jobs and the decision for which will be taken in the first meeting of the Cabinet. This job promise has upset Bihar’s political calculations, which has left Chief Minister Nitish Kumar led JDU government confused.
In the poll-bound Bihar, Nitish Kumar has tried to bank on the narrative of ‘Jungle Raj’ and corruption, but Kumar is not talking about giving jobs to youths. So, when Kumar was asked about giving jobs, he asked if Tejashwi gives 10 lakh jobs, then from where the money will come to pay the salary.
Nitish Kumar had dethroned Lalu Prasad Yadav in 2005 on the plank of development. Since then, Kumar and BJP leaders have been talking about the change in Bihar. The size of Bihar’s annual budget was Rs 18,000 crore in 2005, which went up to Rs 200501 crore in 2020.
Then Kumar and Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi used to say that they know from where the money comes because they know that they spend the money on the development works. They say that the RJD leaders do not know from where the money will come as they never kept the details of funds.
Sushil Modi and Nitish Kumar used to make such statements from every public platform and the people even believed them for 15 years without asking any question. It is a different matter that the government of Nitish Kumar did not do anything to create jobs in the state.
Meanwhile, the major issue arises that why Nitish Kumar government is avoiding the matter of giving salary if 10 lakh jobs are given to the state’s unemployed youths.
RJD leader and former Minister Vijay Prakash says that if Nitish Kumar does not know from where the money will come, he should ask Sushil Kumar Modi who will tell him from where the money comes.
Bihar’s senior socialist leader Nawal Kishor Chaudhary has always been critical of the state government over the fact that it is more dependent on paper realities, while is quite away from the ground realities. The rulers will have no answer the day people ask them about the ground realities. They will totally be exposed.
According to the report of Bihar’s Economic Survey 2020, the state’s per capita income is Rs 33,629 as compared to the national average of Rs 92,565. Only 12 per cent of the people in the state are employed.
In Bihar, 56 per cent of the working population is dependent on self-employment, out of which 33.9 people are those who are individually employed. If we talk about the share of women in employment in Bihar, in villages their share is 3.9 per cent and 6.4 per cent in the cities, which is the lowest in the country.
If we do a comparative study, in Bihar 45 per cent people are dependent on agriculture, forestry and fisheries. The construction sector accounts for 17.1 per cent of job opportunities in the state; wholesale and retail sectors 12.3 per cent and 9.3 per cent jobs are in the manufacturing sector.
The most shocking thing is that 56 per cent of the employment that women get in agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector is also not regular.
According to the Economic Survey-2020, agriculture, forest industry and fish business are the main sources of employment for more than 40 million working population. This sector is completely dependent on nature. Bihar suffers from floods every year.
The development government does not want to talk about these issues in the ensuing Assembly polls.
In fact, having won the election on the basis of caste equations, political parties are least bothered about development.
In 2015 Assembly polls, the BJP made employment an issue. Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the slogan education, job and medicine.
However, Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav defeated the BJP with their social engineering. Nitish Kumar has learned from the poll of the 2015 poll that the people of Bihar do not vote in the name of employment. So he chose to ask Tejashwi from where you will get the money to pay a salary if the jobs are given.
It is the bad luck of Bihar that in the name of employment its people have to migrate and work under humiliating conditions in other States. What he gets when he is in Bihar is the destiny that is decided by floods and drought.
It is one cornerstone of the politics of Bihar, which has been exploited by all political parties over the years but have deprived the poor of their food.
In the election of 2020, Bihar is asking its own leaders whether the youth who are expecting employment will be taken care of or disappointed as usual. What the leaders have kept for them in-store? There is a fight between 15 years versus 15 years. The youths do not know which 15 years were better and for whom. Bihar is not ready to understand people’s problems. It is bad luck.
The ruling party may not have a strategic decision for the year 2020, but one thing is crystal clear that youths are not going to get jobs even after the election because it has been made quite clear that the treasury of good intentions is empty. This means that there is a problem with the intent of Bihar's leadership itself.
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