The major reason behind the migration of Goans is said to be the unavailability of the jobs in the state, but the recently published government report claims that only 8.5% Goans are jobless, that means around 91.5% Goans are either working in government and private sectors or they are self-employed. According to the report published in the Goa Prism, the employment graph of Goa had shown that only 8.5% of the Goans are jobless which is just 1.6% lesser than the national unemployment rate. According to sources, the local youth has an option of remaining jobless or moving out of the state for the career options. Though the Goa government is working towards making it mandatory for the industries to employ 80% Goans in their establishment if they wish to expand, “although they cannot disturb the existing qualified staff that is working with companies for years just to accommodate Goans”, said the senior Goa state industries department, official.
According to the available information to increase an employment rate in the state, the Goa government has constituted a State Investment Promotion Board which has been clearing proposals for setting up new industries and also the expansion of existing units in the state. The government had made it mandatory that these industries should employ 80% locals in it, which would make the unit eligible for state-sponsored schemes. But the actual implementation of the same is not yet known.
The state employment exchange data shows that they have 1, 37,000 registrations with the majority of the youth preferred for the government jobs. More registration comes to North Goa with 70 to 80 registrations per day while South Goa does not show any progress. There is a list of registered people for almost 40 years but it is very low.
According to the Chief Officer of the Employment Exchange Sunil Gaonkar, now they are keeping the close watch on the authenticity of documents submitted by the individuals relating to the degrees & diplomas by checking whether the concerned educational institute are recognized or not. Gaonkar also informed that as and when any department advertise in the newspapers about the jobs the exchange observes a sudden spike in the registration while most of the candidates are unaware of the fact that they need to renew their registration every three years. Most of the candidates register their names after passing SSC but do not update their further educational data, also those who have already found the job without the help of exchange does not provide information about their jobs to the exchange.
As per the sources in the department of labour and employment, major chunk of vacancies are generated in the following government departments which include the Police Department, The Directorate of Fire and Emergency Services, Directorate of Mines and Geology, Directorate of Craftsmen Training, District and Sessions Court, North and South Goa Collectorates, Electricity Department, Directorate of Technical Education, Directorate of Women and Child Development, Directorate of Panchayats, Labour and Employment Commissioner, Water Resources Department and Directorate of Health Services.
The creation of new jobs for the Goans is the main agenda in front of the government and at the moment they are working it out with the new industrial setups by providing them state sponsored schemes to employ 80% of local manpower in their industry. So far, the State Investment Promotion Board has approved 43 new industries and expansion of existing industrial projects in Goa, worth Rs 3,117 crore which could potentially generate 8,100 jobs, he said. Although the officials have also said that mandatory 80% employment to Goans would be only dropped during the expansion process and not while setting up new industrial units.
If the above facts and figures provided by the Employment Exchange are correct, then why the Goans claim that they do not have job opportunities in the state is a major concern here. According to the sources, the major chunk of Goans work outside the Goa, it may be the other Indian metro cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkatta and Delhi and rest are working abroad. Goans are migrating out of Goa due to unemployment and government of Goa promising 80% jobs in the existing setups. If you wish to leave your comments on this serious issue, please go ahead and write it down in the comments box bellow.
