An open letter to Mr Naveen Patnaik,
Odisha Government
To,
Shri Naveen Patnaik
Hon’ble Chief Minister,
Government of Odisha,
Odisha.
Sub: Extension of deadline for
public feed back on Odisha Youth Policy by two months.
Sir,
Greetings from Janata Vikas Manch
(JVM).
Let us introduce JVM to you. It
works on alternative policy and alternative media in Odisha. We are working on
the youth related issues also for the last four years.
We thank you for coming out with a
Draft Odisha Youth Policy. It is a good initiative for drawing a road map for
the development of Odisha.
However, JVM Team would like to
convey you that the Draft Policy was made public just 15 days before its set
deadline of February 28, 2013. Hence, we would request you to direct the Depart
of Sports and Youth Affairs to extend the deadline for minimum two months that
is April 30, 2013. All the Collectors of 30 districts should be asked to hold a
day long interactive sessions with the youth to get their feed back on the
policy.
It department should also publish
from where it has collected the feed back from youth along with place and date.
We have received feed back from districts that the newspapers have published
Ads on February 22, 2013 asking the youth to offer their feed back on the
policy.
Secondly, all the MLAs and political
leadership should also be taken into confidence and they should be asked to
articulate the opinion of youth on the policy. The policy making should not be
just an official exercise.
Third, the legal status of the Youth
Policy should be made clear.
Fourth, the Youth Policy should be
placed in Odisha Assembly for its passage.
JVM has prepared a note containing
the suggestions on the youth policy within a short notice. The note is pasted
below and same is attached with this mail. We will provide a more
intensive-extensive suggestions if the deadline is extended for atleast two
months.
Looking forward,
Thanks & Regards,
Names of the Team members
Date: February 28, 2013
Place: Bhubanewar
CC to: Department of Sports and
Youth Affairs
……………………………….
Janata Vikas Manch (JVM)’s Note on
the Draft Odisha Youth Policy
Janata Vikas Manch (JVM) has been
working on the development of the youth in Odisha for the past
four years and based on our feed
back, the suggestions have been forumalated.
A Perspective
The youth policy should meet the
challenges and grab the opportunities of the globalised economy. The policy
should draw a roadmap for the education, health, sports, employment and
livelihood opportunities for the youth of the state.
The globalization has thrown several
challenges and opportunities before the youth of Odisha. The youth should
know how to gear up to meet those challenges and grab the opportunities at the
same time. Hence, the youth policy should be comprehensive and concrete for the
development of the youth.
The development in Odisha has been
Bhubaneswar centric where 100-KM radius to the state capital is being
developed. A majority of engineering, management and professional colleges are
located in the region of the state capital. The students of backward regions –
Western Odisha, Southern Odisha and Tribal region and the deprived section – SC
and ST - are not able to get education in these colleges as they are not able
to afford the high cost of these colleges. The government should
re-locate these engineering, management and professional colleges to the
backward regions which can enable the students to take education.
The health is another important area
where youth of Odisha should pay a proper attention. The students should be
encouraged to be physically fit which will help them to work hard. They should
be motivated to participate in the sports activity including hockey, football
and atheletics . The government should provide the sports facilities in all the
districts of Odisha. It will also help them to develop a team spirit and a
positive mind set.
The employment and livelihood
opportunity is a major concern for the youth of the Odisha. The government
should ensure that the youth of Odisha get jobs in the private sector in the
state. And, they should be given vocational training. The government should
encourage youth to adopt entrepreneurship. And, all the facilities should be
provided to them. The youth of the state should be developed in such a way that
they should be job providers instead of job-seekers like in Gujarat or Andhra
Pradesh.
Safety of Girls
With regard to safety for the girls,
the state government should provide an adequate safety for the girls in the
state which is important for their getting education in the schools, colleges
and universities. The incidence of rape in the state is a major concern. The
government should punish all the criminals involved in the Pipli rape cases,
Kandhamal rape cases and all other rape cases that took place in the last
couple of years.
The government to set up fast track
courts for the speedy trial of rape cases in all the districts. The rape cases
should be settled within 90 days and the guilty should be punished within 120
days in all other cases related to women. “The criminals should be given death
sentence if the girl is killed or becomes handicap for ever after the rape.
Development of backward regions and
deprived sections
According to both the governmental
and non-governmental data, the coastal region in the state is at par with the
national average in terms of development and social indicators. But, the two
other regions – Western Odisha and Southern region along with the tribal
dominated areas are lagging behind and the poverty is evident in these areas.
Secondly, the globalization and
privatization has led to the Brahmanisation of the Indian economy. The youth of
the two major communities – Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes – with their
population of 23 per cent and 17 per cent respectively - are at the receiving
end. They are not able to get employment in the public sector as the new
recruitments in the state owned entities is almost banned due to the weak state
finances. The situation at the Central level is also not better.
They are not able to get placement
in the private sector as it does not provide any reservation facility to the
youth of STs and SCs.
This apart, the successive state
governments since Independence have not paid any proper attention for the
development of the backward region and the deprived sections in Odisha.
It may be mentioned here that
Odisha’s outgoing governor M C Bhandare while addressing the budget session of
Odisha Legislative Assembly in February, 2012 said that the industrialization
of Odisha has provided jobs to more than 90,000 people. But, here a pertinent
question arises that out of the 90,000 employed work force, how many are from
Odisha specially from the backward areas – Western Odisha, Southern Odisha and
the tribal areas have got jobs ?
The fact remains that the Corporates
are not giving proper employment opportunities to the local youth. They prefer
to hire the youth from outside without citing the reasons for not recruiting
the local youth in their company.
The regional imbalance and social
disparity is a major concern in Odisha. All the indicators of development of
Coastal Odisha are at par with the national benchmark whereas the Western and
Southern Odisha specially the KBK region are very poor in all the
para-metres and Tribal regions.
Lot of discussion and debate is
going on the backwardness of the Western region. The people in the region are
unhappy with the neglect of the Western Odisha. They are demanding the
inclusion of Kosli in 8th Schedule.
The completion of incomplete medical
colleges and promised universities is a major concern among the people of
Western Odisha.
The Balangir medical college,
Kalahandi medical college, agriculture university at Sambalpur is yet to see
the light of the day. Burla needs to be upgraded with modern facilities.
The infrastructure – rail network
and roads - is also very bad in the Western region. The people want
railway lines from Bargarh to Nuapada and Khordha and Balangir Road.
The agriculture is also in a bad
state. A large number of farmers have committed suicides due to several
reasons.
The unemployment and migration among
others are the two major issues of the region.
ST development
Tribals have been at the receiving
end in the recent past due to the rapid industrialization and communal
violence. The political parties should take following steps for the tribal
youth development:
1. PESA should be implemented both
in letter and spirit. Land rights of the tribals must be protected strictly.
The government should not take their land for setting up industries without
taking their consent.
2. The political parties should
ensure that their justified demands and problems should be solved politically.
Their rights should not be muzzled in the name of countering ultra-left by
setting up Salwa-judam kind of forces.
3. Tribals must get the right price
for their forest produce like Kendu leave.
4. The government should ensure that
the tribals should also have a say in the mining policies of the government.
5. The political parties should
implement reservation in the jobs in the private sector. And, a minimum
percentage of jobs should be reserved in the private sector. The political
leadership should ensure that all the vacancies reserved for the tribals
should be filled up.
6. The political parties should take
proper steps to identify the fake ST certificate holders in the state. And,
take criminal action against them.
7. Government should help them in
setting up their forest based ventures and made available the loans at a
concessional interest rate for setting up small units.
8. The government should ensure that
the Prevention of atrocities against SC & ST Act is enforced In the state.
SC development
The SC youth in Odisha still face
social discrimination. There were reports of their entry being resisted by the
upper castes in the temples. The state needs a big social movement on the lines
of Tamil Nadu and UP to put an end to the social discrimination. The economic
and social development of SCs is necessary for the overall change of the SCs in
the state. The political parties should implement following points:
Ø Criminal action should
be taken against those who violate the human rights of SC youth.
Ø The political parties should
ensure that all the vacancies reserved for the SCs should be filled up in the
educational institutes and government. The political parties should ensure a
certain percent of reservation for the SCs in the private sector for setting up
small units.
Reasons for the underdevelopment of
the Region
One of the main reasons for the
under-development of the backward regions is the weak assertion of the people,
poor political mobilisation and the lack of political will among the leaders of
the region.
Another reason for the
backwardness of the region is the presence of the large population of the
Tribals and SCs who are historically backward and they are exploited by the
upper castes. Hence, the youth of the backward region and deprived section are
the worst suffers.
Change of Mind Set is a MUST
The most important reason for the
backwardness of the Odisha is the Mind Set. The historically priviledged class
has less concern for the deprived. The attitude is negative. The people spend
more time in leg-pulling than concentrating on their own work.
There is a Crab mind-set which is
prevailing in the entire state. There is a lack of trust among themselves,
absence of mutual respect as well as sense of gratitude. The general attitude
is to adopt short cuts and corrupt methods to go up in the ladder instead
of through sheer hard work. Odisha is one of the few states in country where the
general trend is to sleep during the afternoon hours.
Both the work culture and dignity of
labour is missing in the state. There may be historical, environmental, social,
economic and political reasons for this psychological behavior which needs to
be analysed and corrected.
The people of the state should
understand that work is a continuous process and it is not meant just for
getting two times meals only. Similarly, the employers should also understand
that the workforce in the new economy sectors is as important as they are. They
should shun the feudal mind-set and should learn how to treat their
co-travellers. The youth of Odisha specially in the backward regions should be
motivated to work hard like the developed states – Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh
or Telangana youth are doing. And, at the same time, the employers should also
take a leaf on the HR management from their counter parts specailly from
Gujarat and Punjab in keeping them in good humour in various ways and getting
the work done.
Focus on Youth Development
The political leadership should give
a special emphasis on the development of education, health and Sports for
the personality development of youth.
The education and health facility
should not be confined just to the
100 KM radius of the State Capital –
Bhubaneswar. The education
network from class one to higher
education needs to be strengthened.
The backward areas. The quality of
education should also be enhanced.
The educationists can use Technology
both Web and Mobile in taking
education to all.
And, the youth should be also given
professional and
technical education to meet the
challenges of globalization.
Health is second most important
aspect for the development of youth.
There should basic health facility
for the entire population.
The youth should be encouraged to go
for Sports along with a good
education. It will provide physical
strength to the youth who can be able
to work hard. This will also help in
changing the mind set by
developing sportsman spirit among
them.
Sports
The political leadership should
ensure that both the government and the private entities to organize a national
level marathon – Odisha Marathan on the lines of Mumbai Marathan, New Bombay
Marathan. Others sports including Hockey, Football should also be encouraged.
It will rejuvenate the youth of the state and bring the state at the national
map.
The youth should also be given
exposure to the outside world also by encouraged them to participate in the
national sports events. They should be given opportunity to interact with the
youth of other states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and
Punjab to understand various aspects of the development.
The development of Micro and Small
& Medium Enterprises
The globalization has changed the
industrial landscape throughout India. And, Odisha is also not untouched from
this trend. In post-globalization, the modern technology and capital intensive
mega industries have replaced the traditional system. The current trends
world-wide have demonstrated that the modern industry can not generate adequate
employment opportunities.
The nature of employment also
changed. The new economy industries need highly technical and professionally
qualified professionals and it has thrown out the skilled and semi-skilled
work-force. The major challenge is to identify the newer employment
opportunities for this section of society.
It may be mentioned here that Odisha
governor M C Bhandare while addressing the budget session of Odisha Legislative
Assembly in February, 2012 said that the state government has signed 93 MOUs in
steel sector (50), power sector (29) and others with an investment of Rs
4,62,768 crore. Out of 50 steel companies, 30 have started partial production.
The state government among others
has signed MOUs with three aluminium companies, four cement companies, one auto
component, one oil refinery, one titanium dioxide plant and four
ancillary and downstream industries. The State government has signed 29 MoUs
for setting up of independent power projects (IIPs) with a total installed
capacity of 37,440 MW out of which the state share will be 6,141MW.
Out of these 29, two plants with a
total installed capacity of 1,250 megawatt have started generating energy and
seven power plants are likely to be completed by the end of 2013 with a total
capacity of 8,100 MW from which the state is likely to get 1,200 MW
as its share making the state power surplus by the end of 2013.
Besides, the state government has
signed MOU with the Union government for setting up of one Petroleum, Chemicals
and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) with an investment of Rs 2,77,734
crore within an area of 284.15 kilometers at Paradeep. A special purpose vehicle
(SPV) has been floated for implementing the project.
The state governor also said that
the industrialization of Odisha has provided jobs to more than 90,000 people.
But, here a pertinent question arises that out of the 90,000 employed work
force, how many from Odisha specially from the backward areas like Kosal region
got jobs ?
The fact remains that inspite of all
the investments in the new economy sectors, the jobs have not been created to
meet the growing unemployment in the state. On the contrary, the global
competition has left a large number of people unemployed as a number of state
owned and the old economy companies were closed as they could not sustain the
intense global competition.
In this backdrop, the state
government has realized that self-employment or MSMEs is the only way to
generate employment in garments, leather, IT and similar other sectors.
Hence, the need to encourage MSME sector in the state has been felt.
The state chief minister Naveen
Patnaik himself said recently that the MSME sector has scaled up the employment
generation, export growth and inclusive development in the state. More than
1.06 million MSMEs to-day have created jobs for 1.93 million people in the
state.
It has decided to create a new
micro, small and medium enterprise department by bifurcating the industries
department. The state finance minister has allocated Rs 52.50 crore for the
creation of MSME Department and Rs 353.20 crore for the Employment and
Technical education and Training Department in the state budget for year
2012-13. The second deparment is meant for the technology up-gradation and
skill development to give a boost to the MSME sector.
However, the funding for the MSME is
a major challenge. The Union government had designed the Prime Minister Rojgar
Yojana (PMRY) to provide employment to the educated unemployed youth by setting
up of micro enterprises. It relates to the setting up of the self employment
ventures for industries, services and business. However, all the unemployed
youth are not able to avail this scheme in Odisha for various reasons.
A cheap funding for starting a
self-employment or MSMEs is the key challenge in the state due to the weak
banking network. The interest rate on the loans offered by the Micro Finance
Institutions (MFIs) is very high due to the multi-structured delivery system.
Resource Mobilisation
The state government can identify
new sources of resource mobilization for MSMEs. The state government in
consultation with the Union government can create a pool of funds. The
government can make it mandatory for the public and private sector working in
the state to contribute 0 to 5% of their annual net profit towards this
corpus. It can be considered as a contribution towards Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR). There is a vast scope to mobilize resources from the mining companies
also to share their profit with the state owned fund.
Similarly, a large number of
non-residents from the state are staying within and outside the country. They
can be asked to voluntarily contribute money towards this fund. The fund to the
young entrepreneurs can be given at a very low annual interest rate. In a bid
to bring transparency in the allocation of funds, the government can form a
Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to manage and allocate the fund based on
merit. A professional team should recommend the members for this SPV. The
members for the SPV can be drawn from the government, bureaucracy, industry,
judiciary and civil society.
A person having a background of
management or finance can head the SPV to professionally manage the corpus. The
fund can also be used for training people for creating awareness.
Development of backward regions and
deprived section The globalization has widened the regional differences.
According to both the governmental and non-governmental data the coastal region
in the state is at par with the national average in terms of development and
social indicators. But, the two other regions – Western and Southern regions
are lagging behind and the poverty is evident in this area.
Secondly, the globalization and
privatization has led to the Brahminisation of the economy. The two major
communities – Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes – with their population of
23 per cent and 17 per cent respectively - are at the receiving end. They are
not able to get employment in the public sector as the new recruitments in the
state government is almost banned due to the weak finances. The situation at
the Central level is also not better. They are not able to get placement in the
private sector as it does not provide any reservation facility to the STs and
Scs. The private sector is largely dominated by the Brahmin led upper castes.
This apart, the successive state
governments since Independence have not paid any proper attention for the
development of the backward region and the deprived sections. Hence, the fund
created for the MSME should focus on the employment generation in the backward
regions – Western and Southern Odisha and among the deprived sections – STs,
SCs and marginalized sections. It will help them to earn their
livelihood.
How to ensure the success of MSME
sector
There is a general opinion in the
state that any plan or scheme does not work in the state due to several
reasons. The government should hold a study the functioning of MSME
sector in the Dharavi (Mumbai), Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. These models will help
in the operationalisation of MSME sector.
In Odisha, the political party and
civil society organizations should have mass mobilization to force the
government to focus on the MSME for the employment generation.
The leadership should encourage the
youth to do hard work and develop forward looking skills like the developed
states – Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh have. They should be educated that
the dependence like mind-set on the state will not yield any result in the long
run.
The people should make the political
leadership – both state and central government, MPs, MLAs, ministers and local
representatives accountable for the success of MSME for the employment
generation.
A special emphasis should be given
on the technical and professional education to develop modern skills to manage
MSME sector.
The Odisha government in partnership
with the private sector is holding an annual meet called Invest Bhubaneswar to
attract global investors. It has organised the second consecutive meet in
December, 2011 at Bhubaneswar. The state government and the organizers of
Invest Bhubaneswar should ensure that the meetings or the development should
NOT be Bhubanewar centric. The third meeting of the Invest Bhubaneswar should
be organised in Western Odisha – either in Sambalpur or Bargarh with a special
focus on MSME. The youth of tribal and SC community should also be involved in
this process.
The policy makers should ensure that
the people take the advantage of Globalisation and meet the challenges or
neutralize the ill-effects of the same. They should chalk out various
strategies to make the MSME successful which will generate employment opportunity.
It will also help to check the large scale migration from the backward areas of
the state and will ensure the holistic development of Odisha.
Conclusion
The habit of doing hard work will
help the Youth in participating the developmental process and politics. It will
help the Youth in taking risk and maintaining a hectic life which is part and
parcel of the developmental process and politics.
The political class should
understand how to carry forward both development and distributive justice hand
in hand as the twin are necessary to change the face of Odisha. They need to be
pragmatic and shun the dogmatic approach for the holistic development of the
state.
