Accusing Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy of reneging on his promise to provide jobs to the unemployed youth in the State, leaders of the Nirudyoga Joint Action Committee (JAC) have embarked on ‘Chaitanya Yatra’, an initiative to educate the youth about the need to dislodge the YSR Congress Party for a secure future.
Leading the bus yatra that started in Anantapur district, JAC convener Shaik Siddik said Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy, at the time of his padayatra, had promised to fill the 2.3 lakh vacant posts in various government departments in the State and release a job calendar every year. “The youth believed him and voted for his party, but they were betrayed by the YSRCP, which formed the government but did not implement its promise,” he said.
He said, in his five-year rule, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy had not released even a single job calendar, and neither did he fulfil his promise on release of a ‘Mega DSC’. Educated youth in the State were frustrated in the absence of jobs, he said.
PLF survey
Citing the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), conducted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme implementation, he said unemployment rate among graduates was at 24% in Andhra Pradesh, the highest among States in the country.
He said a large number of unemployed youth had committed suicide in the State, but the government remained indifferent to their problems.
Mr. Siddik said, in the absence of jobs, some people who had completed B.Tech, M.Tech and other courses were forced to become coolies, or work in agricultural fields.
“Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy, as an Opposition leader, had said that grant of Special Category Status (SCS) will solve all the existing problems, but did not do anything concrete to achieve the same after coming to power,” he said.
The JAC leader alleged that the State had turned into an illegal drug trafficking hub, and urged the youth across the State to vote the YSRCP out of power.
‘Manifesto a big let down’
The manifesto released by the Chief Minister on April 27 also came under sharp attack by State president of A.P. Nirudyoga JAC S. Hemanth Kumar. He said there was no concrete promise made for unemployed youth, who had been waiting endlessly for jobs.
“After seeing this manifesto, no youth in the State, along with their family members, would vote for the ruling party,” he said, and added that Mr. Jagan must include the unemployment issue in it.
