Eye on Lok Sabha polls, Karnataka govt plans mega job fair in January

Bengaluru: The Siddaramaiah administration has planned a mega job fair in the city towards the end of January 2024 for which a six-member ministerial team was constituted on Friday.

Politically, the event will underline Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s pet narrative on unemployment against the BJP government going into the Lok Sabha polls. The Congress government hopes to earn brownie points by delivering jobs to youngsters at the state-level event.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah held a preparatory meeting on the proposed employment fair (Udyoga Mela) with his Cabinet colleagues and officials.

A team comprising Industries Minister MB Patil, IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge, Skill Development Minister Dr Sharan Prakash Patil, Higher Education Minister Dr MC Sudhakar, Youth Empowerment & Sports Minister B Nagendra, Labour Minister Santosh Lad and Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao has been constituted to oversee the employment fair.

In a statement, Siddaramaiah said the ministerial team will hold meetings with employers from various sectors and get them to participate in the job fair.

“The BJP government couldn’t provide employment, which Rahul Gandhi highlighted during his Bharat Jodo Yatra. We want to provide employment to Kannadigas, for which we’ve planned a programme,” Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said after the preparatory meeting.

According to Siddaramaiah, the ministerial team will also recommend long-term programmes to bridge the gap between skills that job seekers possess and the needs of employers.

Siddaramaiah also wants overseas job opportunities to be considered. “Moreover, there is a need to have an employment policy to improve job opportunities for the youth of the state,” the CM said and sought 'necessary groundwork' on this.

The government does not want this to be a regular job fair. "It will be a mega job fair with a new design," Shivakumar added. "It’ll be held first in Bengaluru and then taken to other places later," he said, adding that the job fair will cover sectors such as hospitality, manufacturing and IT/BT. “We want to help rural candidates as much as possible.”

10,000 applications for Yuva Nidhi

The Congress government has received 10,834 applications for the Yuva Nidhi scheme as of 6 pm Friday. Under this scheme, unemployed graduates and diploma-holders will get a monthly allowance of Rs 3,000 and Rs 1,500, respectively, for two years. Payment of the allowance will start with a public event at Shivamogga on January 12.