The government is planning to create jobs for 16,000 unemployed youths in the Rangpur division under its mass employment scheme in the next fiscal year, aiming to buoy economic activities in the Monga-prone area.
But the jobs generated over the last four years still fall short of the electoral pledge made by the government of providing a job to at least one member of each family by 2014.
The finance division last month approved TK2.35bn to run the second phase of the National Service Programme (NSP) introduced in the first national budget, under the youth and sports ministry, in eight upazilas of seven districts of the Rangpur division.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith will announce details of the second phase of the scheme in the national budget, to be unveiled on June 6.
In the first phase of the programme a total of 56,054 unemployed youths in Kurigram, Barguna and Gopalganj came under NSP coverage. A total of Tk200m has already been spent on the NSP programme that will end on October 30 of this year.
Duty Director of National Service Programme Ashit Kumar Sutradhar yesterday said even eve-teasing in nineteen upazilas under those three districts had dropped drastically after the introduction of the National Service Scheme (NSS).
In his first budget speech, Muhith said the incumbent government was bound by its promise to provide employment to one member of each of the families by the year 2014.
Narrating the positive impact of the programme Ashit said the purchasing power of Monga-affected Kurigram area where people are usually unemployed after the end of the paddy-harvesting season had gone up due to employment generation.
While launching the NSP in eight upazilas of seven districts under Rangpur division two months ago, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the government does not want to use the youth as a political weapon, and instead wants them to contribute to the country’s socio-economic development by becoming self-reliant.
“After assuming office this time, we have placed a special emphasis on the employment of youth as per our election manifesto and set a goal in Vision 2021 to bring the unemployment rate down to 15% from 40%,” she said.
Under the NSP, the government provides training to chosen candidates before they are appointed to work in their respective upazilas for a period of two years for a monthly remuneration of Tk6,000.
Of the Tk6,000 the employee receives Tk4,000, while the remaining Tk2,000 is deposited in a commercial bank account from which the candidate can withdraw at the end of his job tenure.
Moreover, during the training period they are given Tk100 per day.
Unemployed youth can later invest their deposited money in fish, poultry or dairy farming, or for cultivating cash crops and thus generate more income than by maintaining a regular job.
According to the government’s plan, youth have been provided easy-term loans from Karma Sangsthan Bank, Ansar-VDP Bank and Probashi Kalyan Bank so they can stand on their own feet.
Manzurul Islam, an officer of Upazila Juba Unnayan at Nageshar Upazila, said they had selected 6,000 unemployed youths after interviewing 7,500 people. “The selected youths will be employed after the upcoming budget announcement.”
Asked if youths could reap any benefits from their training, he said most of the youths were engaged in the government-launched project after completion of their jobs, and a few of them had started business after taking loans from the aforementioned banks.
Over the last four years, 7.5m jobs have been generated in the public and private sector and more than 2m people went abroad, he said.