‘Virtual absence of industrial enterprises responsible for unemployment in Northeast’

New Delhi, Apr 29 (KNN) Unutilized natural resources, primitive agriculture and virtual absence of industrial enterprises are the main responsible factors for the unemployment problem of Northeast region, said Radheshyam Biswas, a Lok Sabha MP from Karimganj, Assam.

Speaking at the Lok Sabha today, the MP, who belongs to the All India United Democratic Front party, said the skill development infrastructure in North-Eastern States is insufficient to meet the requirements of the region itself.

“Only in Assam there are above 20 lakh registered unemployed youths out of which 85 per cent are unskilled unemployed youths, though there is a unique requirement in training depending on natural resources, industry and native trades,” he said.

Biswas pointed that till now no plan has been finalised to set up ITls through PPP mode due to less availability of private partners. There were a total of 80 ITls (Industrial Training Institutes) in the Northeast, out of these, 72 were government run and the remaining eight were run by private players.

He sought for the steps to establish new ITls in the region as well as in his constituency, Karimganj, which he said is very backward economically, industrially and in infrastructure development.

“Unemployment problem become tremendous headache for the youths and it creates problem like insurgency among the youths in southern part of my constituency like Ratabari, Patharkandi and Katlichera,” he said.

The MP also urged the Centre to start the "venture fund and start-up centre" scheme fast.

Union Government had announced to open a new scheme under the banner of "venture fund and start-up centre" under North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Limited for those youths who have innovative business ideas to overcome the hurdle of loan problem under DoNER Ministry. (KNN Bureau)