June 13, 2025
BHUBANESWAR – Exactly a year ago, the BJP formed its maiden government in the state with four-time MLA Mohan Charan Majhi sworn in as the 16th Chief Minister of Odisha, along with his two deputies, KV Singh Deo and Pravati Parida, in Bhubaneswar at a function attended, among others, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A year on, a pertinent question that has come under debate is whether the Majhi-led government has delivered the goods in general and in the employment sector in particular despite claims by the present dispensation. If public perception is any indicator, unemployment is a tricky issue that the state government has failed to ameliorate notwithstanding the rhetoric of government agencies.
The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for the period July 2023 to June 2024, released by the Labour Bureau indicated that the unemployment rate in Odisha stands at 11.1 per cent as against the all-India average of 10.2 per cent amongst youth in the 15-29 age group.
The government might have taken initiatives like — introducing increasing paddy procurement input by Rs 800-a-quintal, launching a women-centric Subhadra Yojana with Rs 50,000 financial benefits in a phased manner in five years’ period, strengthening grievance redressal mechanism, policy to give mega investment push with Rs 4.5 lakh crore investments approved in the last one year — but, on the other hand, measures to get rid of ever-rising unemployment are left much to be desired.
The exodus of skilled human resources from Odisha to other states and abroad has been a recurring feature here despite the state being endowed with immense natural resources. The Naveen Patnaik Government that was voted out of power in 2024 after 24 years of record rule did precious little in this regard. The past governments prior to Naveen’s rule also failed the state’s jobseekers.
In the manifesto released in the run-up to the 2024 polls, the BJP had promised to fill up 1.5 lakh government vacancies in five years. If the government’s data is any indicator, it has filled up 27,382 vacant government jobs in the last 12 months.
In a relief to those who crossed the 32 age barrier for government jobs, the Majhi government has increased the upper age limit for entry into various government services (non-uniform services) from 32 to 42 years.