Is lack of jobs pushing Meghalaya’s youth towards arms?

Shillong: Could lack of job opportunities be pushing Meghalaya’s youth towards picking up arms?

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday agreed that the issue of unemployment and militancy has been there for many years. 

“I have always maintained in all my statements that militancy is not the problem; it is a result of the problem, which is socio-economic issues. Therefore, unemployment definitely is a very important issue but it is not an issue that one can say let’s take this step and resolve it,” mentioned Sangma.

The chief minister added that it is a major issue throughout the state, country and the world, and many governments work in different ways to tackle that.

Acknowledging that unemployment is a critical issue, Sangma stated that from the government’s end, it has been focusing on many programmes related to entrepreneurship and are promoting programmes for the youth that they could take up.

“Be it not just being job seekers but job creators. We have, as I said, whether it’s in the food processing sector, the tourism sector or whether any kind of small-scale industries, we have come up with different mission mode programmes targeted towards creating jobs,” said Sangma.

The chief minister reiterated that tackling unemployment is one of the top priorities for this government. “That is why the number of programmes we’ve conducted in the last many years had been targeting this but obviously it’s not something that can be resolved in a day,” he added.

Mentioning that it’s a process, Sangma said that as the economy grows, as opportunities come, more and more employment will be generated and that is how they will move forward.

Sangma’s response comes at a time when a new militant group called Lawei Ba Phyrnai has emerged that claims itself to consist of 37 well-qualified and talented but jobless youth. The Publicity Secretary of Lawei ba Phyrnai, who had sent an email, threatening to blow up a primary school, claimed to be a school teacher whose contract was terminated.

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