The Government of Jharkhand in its roadmap for development of the State is considering skill training as one of the most important factors along with corruption-free government and a sound industrial policy, says Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das in an exclusive interview with Gopi Krishna Arora of Elets News Network (ENN).
What is your vision for Jharkhand for next five years?
In line with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas”, Jharkhand Government has taken forward the growth story of the State. Our objective is to work for public welfare.I am grateful to the people of Jharkhand for their faith and support in our government. Today, Jharkhand Government is committed to uphold these high standards of governance and at the same time committed to serve people better.Since the inception of BJP Government in Jharkhand, the State has witnessed many good things. One of the biggest achievements is to head the first stable government in the state since its creation. Besides, we’ve restored people’s confidence in governance which had eroded over the preceding decade. Apart from emerging as a transparent and corruption-free government, we’ve also won the confidence of investors by developing infrastructure and a sound industrial policy. This, in turn, has created jobs. We’ve laid a network of roads for better connectivity within the State. We also have plans to bring electricity and piped drinking water to every household.
What are your focus areas for Jharkhand?
The State government is on a mission to turn coal rich state into “the power of India”. Jharkhand has been blessed with every natural resource such as coal, bauxite, iron ore, manganese and gold.One of the major focus areas of Jharkhand Government is skilling of Youth. The government has launched various schemes for employment generation by setting up more industries in the State. The other three areas where Jharkhand has great potential are — Agriculture, Industry and IT. To stimulate investment in these sectors and develop infrastructure such as roads and power are also important and we are on right path for the same.
Jharkhand is emerging as the “Skill Destination of India”. “Skilling Youth, Enabling Growth” is the tag line of State’s skill development mission. What is being done and what are the plans to skill more youth of the State?
The Government of Jharkhand has decided to impart skills training to around 20 lakh youths over a period of five years in the sectors like Agriculture and Animal husbandry, Industry and MSME, health, Paramedics, Infrastructure, Road and Transport, Tourism, Power and utilities, Water and Environment and Banking and Financial services. We are in the process of setting up 50 Mega Skill Development Centres in the State. We are also inviting private players for partnership to build Skill Development Centres in existing academic institutions i.e. higher, Technical and ITIs.
How the State government is linking education with skill development programmes at different levels? What are the major policies for promoting Skill Development Mission of Jharkhand?
We are taking every possible measure to make our youth employable. Earlier, our youth were forced to migrate. But now, we are skilling them in different sectors to make them self-dependent. Our government is also supporting private universities to strengthen the education sector. Since education is the backbone of anybody’s personality and we want to ensure that the education makes the children of Jharkhand capable enough to face challenges of global economy.
“Jharkhand’s strong base of entrepreneurial people, excellent infrastructure, stable governance, business friendly policies make it the best destination for doing business. We are always welcoming the newcomers and entrepreneurs to grow with us.”
We are taking every possible measure to make our youth employable. Earlier, our youth were forced to migrate. But now, we are skilling them in different sectors to make them selfdependent.
Quality education defines the future for the students of any country, what are the key components you are focusing to make the education standards at par with global standards?
The use of latest technology has made education easier. In this tech-savvy era, the role of teachers has metamorphosed from guide to facilitator. Now the time has come to change the scenario and the roots of primary or secondary education should be strengthened. We are doing capacity building of teachers across schools in the State. The literacy rate of Jharkhand is very close to the national average. We are trying to reduce the student-teacher ratio in primary and secondary education. We are also establishing more kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (kGBV) schools to reduce girl dropout rate. The Government has opened Jharkhand Balika Awasiya Vidyalayas in remote blocks to improve the quality of education in low literacy and tribal dominated blocks of the State The Government is making all out efforts to improve Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in higher education track. The Government has set the target of 32 to achieve by 2022. Along with this, we are trying to integrate Skill Training Centres in every higher education institute to make students future ready as per the industry requirements.
As a Chief Minister of the most promising State, what are the major decisions being taken up to make Jharkhand Government as transparent, sensitive, decisive and progressive Government?
With the vision of “Greater the use of IT, lesser the corruption”, we have set up a CM Desk and more than 150 grievance lines. At the end of every month, I meet all the departments and we have a video conference with district collectors who have to explain cases that have not been sorted out in 30 days. I believe that every department is working day and night in the direction of bringing transparency and making the processes citizen-friendly.
What are the policies that make the Jharkhand a preferred investment destination? What efforts are being made to bring more industries in the state?
Jharkhand’s strong base of entrepreneurial people, excellent infrastructure, stable governance, business friendly policies make it the best destination for doing business. We are always welcoming the newcomers and entrepreneurs to grow with us. Jharkhand is moving very fast to be the most preferred investment destination. We are bringing reforms in all sectors. We have come out with several new policies to encourage industry, exports, solar energy and medical education. We have Asia’s largest cluster of 400 auto component industries. The State can only progress if we have a longterm strategy. The government is open for suggestions from industries and corporates to draft industry friendly policies. Jharkhand is a well governed State and working with the vision of “Minimum Government and Maximum Governance”. We have a very good law and order situation. Trained manpower is also required for any industry and we have already started working towards making 20 lakh youths skilled by 2022. Altogether, we provide a very good ambience to do business and, as a State, we have always adopted friendly and transparent policies to help industry newcomers and grow organically.
What measures are being taken up by the State government to improve Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) ranking?
In the ease of doing business ranking of States, currently, we are at 7th position, but in labour reforms, we are already ahead of Gujarat and are ranked first in the country. We got a 100 per cent score as we made everything online and removed inspections in many cases. The emphasis is on self-certification.We are working very aggressively to redesign our business policies. Business process reengineering has already been taken place and I am confident that very soon we will improve our ranking in ease of doing business.
