GUWAHATI
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Days after receiving threat mails from a “terror group of qualified jobless youths”, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma has admitted that unemployment and socio-economic factors have been fuelling extremism in the State.
He said governments across the globe have been trying to deal with the unemployment issue. The Meghalaya government, too, has been pursuing programmes to promote entrepreneurship toward creation of jobs, he said.
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Mr. Sangma is the chief of the National People’s Party (NPP), which heads a coalition government in Meghalaya. Its constituents include the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“Our government has been putting in efforts to make the youths employable. We have come up with programmes in sectors such as food processing, tourism and small-scale industries,” he said.
His predecessor and Trinamool Congress leader Mukul M. Sangma disagreed. He said the State government was “least bothered about creating job opportunities”.
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It has instead been blocking the avenues for the youth, triggering resentment among them, he said.
“Many youths with Master’s degrees are applying for grade IV government jobs. Is this not a sign of desperation?” the Trinamool leader said.
On April 5, the High Court of Meghalaya stayed all government recruitment processes until a roster system is put in place for the appropriate implementation of the recruitment policy.
The court’s directive came soon after Lawei ba Phyrnai or ‘Future in Bright’, a self-proclaimed terror group sent emails to the Chief Minister and other senior officers threatening to blow up one educational institution after another. They said these institutions were meaningless as they failed to ensure jobs.
One person from the State capital Shillong was arrested on April 13 for hacking into the email IDs of senior officials and sending the threat mails.