Flights Of Fantasy
[ M Panging Pao ]
“The youth need to be enabled to become job generators from job seekers.” –
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
Parents and elders advise their children to study hard, get good grades and get good jobs. Students toil hard, undergo rigorous coaching classes to pass competitive exams and join good colleges to become engineers, doctors, lecturers, IAS, IPS, defence officers, etc. Almost all students’ main target is to get government jobs. Government jobs provide job stability, bungalows, vehicles, easy lifestyles and pension benefits. Those who cannot obtain government jobs join private sector avenues like PSUs and MNCs and big companies to become entrepreneurs to make a livelihood.
Government jobs or the public sector is one of the largest employers in our country with over 1.7 crore Indians employed, amounting to just 1.2 per cent of India’s population. Therefore government jobs are very limited. With salary and pension bills mounting, there is pressure on governments to reduce government jobs. India produces about 3.7 crore graduates every year. The numbers indicate that there are much lesser jobs both in government and private sectors for these graduates. The big challenge for us as a nation is to find gainful employment for these huge youth population.
Therefore, many young citizens should aim to transform from job seekers to job creators. Anyone who establishes a new business or industry and provides work opportunities for others is a job creator. Job creators are generally entrepreneurs who have a vision along with passion. Towards facilitating this transformation, the government has started many schemes and policies, like Startup India, Stand-up India, Aatmanirbhar Bharat, vocal for local, etc.
Many youths are taking up entrepreneurship, and about 1,200-1,500 startups are coming up every year and creating more than 50,000 direct jobs and numerous indirect jobs.
There is a great scope for entrepreneurship in Arunachal and the Northeast.
Abundant with natural resources, many startups or industries could come up in the agri-horti sector, food processing, manufacturing, tourism, and services sectors. Natural resources like wood products, bamboo, handicrafts, organic fruits and vegetables are available in large quantities. Fruits like apple, kiwi, oranges, Valencia, and pineapple and spices like cardamom, ginger, garlic and turmeric are grown in large quantities. Plantations of rubber, arecanut, oil palm and tea are increasing. There is huge potential for food and fruit processing industries like juice, packaged spices, pickles, jams, and bamboo/wood based industries like furniture, home construction, interiors, etc.
Arunachal has also vast potential in the tourism sector and could transform into the top tourist destination in the country. There is enormous scope for hotels, resorts, homestays, restaurants, taxi services, adventure sports, trekking etc. With economic activity picking up, there is also scope for professionals like chartered accountants, tax consultants, certified valuators, empanelled lawyers, etc.
If there is so much potential in the entrepreneurship, manufacturing, agri-horti and tourism sectors, why are our youths still running after government jobs? The government and society elders must promote our youths to become entrepreneurs. Are you planning to be a job seeker or a job creator? (The contributor is retired Group Captain, Indian Air Force)
