Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday reiterated the Assam government’s commitment to provide government jobs to two lakh youths, while also stressing the need to build a strong culture of entrepreneurship and expand economic opportunities for women across the state. Speaking during the third day of the Assam Assembly session on May 26, the chief minister said the employment promise made during the elections remained a key responsibility of his government and a commitment he personally continued to remember. “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,” Sarma said in the Assembly.
The chief minister said the state’s future development could not depend only on government recruitment and that Assam must also create a generation of self-reliant young entrepreneurs capable of generating employment for others.“We must create a self-reliant and enterprising youth generation,” he said, adding that while the government would work to provide jobs to two lakh youths, another section of young people should be empowered to create work opportunities for “ten others”.Sarma said Assam needed a “young generation filled with entrepreneurship” instead of one entirely dependent on government employment. He linked the idea of self-reliance with agriculture, rural development and better use of Assam’s natural and economic resources. The chief minister also placed strong emphasis on the growing role of women in Assam’s economy. He said self-help groups had brought major social and economic changes by encouraging women to participate more actively in income generation and family welfare.
“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. According to Sarma, women across the state were increasingly stepping beyond the “four walls” of their homes and looking to contribute directly to family prosperity and community development. He urged the Assembly and government departments to strengthen the self-help group movement across Assam in a “large and meaningful way” so that more women could benefit from financial inclusion, entrepreneurship opportunities and livelihood support.