Assam to focus on jobs, entrepreneurship and women-led growth: Himanta

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on May 26 reiterated the government’s commitment to provide jobs to two lakh youths, while stressing that Assam must also build a generation of entrepreneurs capable of creating employment opportunities for others.

Speaking during the third day of the Assam Assembly session, Sarma said the promise of employment made during the elections remained one of the government’s key responsibilities.

“People today may or may not remind me of it, but at this sacred moment of taking responsibility as Chief Minister, I am reminding myself that this government must wholeheartedly take up the responsibility of providing government jobs to two lakh youths,” he said.

The chief minister said the government would not only focus on recruitment in the public sector but also work towards creating a self-reliant and enterprising generation through agriculture and better utilisation of Assam’s resources.

“We must create a self-reliant and enterprising youth generation,” Sarma said, adding that alongside two lakh government jobs, another section of young people should be empowered to generate employment for “ten others”.

He said Assam needed a “young generation filled with entrepreneurship” instead of one solely dependent on government employment.

Highlighting the role of women in the state’s economic transformation, Sarma said self-help groups had created a new sense of aspiration among women in Assam.

“The women of Assam, even after fulfilling their household responsibilities, no longer wish to remain confined only to kitchen duties; they also want to take responsibility for the economic well-being of their families,” he said.

Sarma said women across the state now wanted to step beyond the “four walls” of their homes and contribute actively to family prosperity. He urged the Assembly to take responsibility for expanding and strengthening the self-help group movement across Assam in a “large and meaningful way”.

The chief minister’s remarks came as the government outlined its broader economic and employment vision for the next five years, including entrepreneurship development, rural economic growth and women-led participation in Assam’s economy.