Not enough jobs for all the competent graduates of the State, says Minister

Minister emphasizes need for more job opportunities in Tamil Nadu to match high number of graduates produced annually.

“We have to create more job opportunities to match the number of graduates we produce in our State,” said Minister for Information Technology and Digital Services Palanivel Thiaga Rajan.  

Speaking at the Startup Thiruvizha at Tamukkam grounds here on Sunday, he said Tamil Nadu was churning out about 20% of India’s engineering and diploma graduates every year.   Though these people get jobs in the Information Technology sector or any white-collar job, only 15% of the national workforce remains in the State.  

“Though we have a talented workforce, only 11% of the total investments in the IT sector in the national level come into Tamil Nadu,” Mr. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan said.  

As the Dravidian model of governance has facilitated a conducive environment for education to thrive and many students excel in their studies, there are not enough companies to absorb them all. “Initiatives like StartupTN can bridge the gap by getting support for entrepreneurs and thereby make them create more jobs,” he said.  

Through supporting investments such as venture capital fund provided in general and through SC/ST department, many new businesses have cropped up in the State in the last three years, he said.  

“The government can only help, but the actual work, motivation and courage and should come from the talents who aspire to make it big with their start-ups,” he added.  

Priya Babu of Transgender Resource Centre, speaking on ‘Inclusion entrepreneurship; at the event, said the major reason for many transpersons staying away from potential business opportunities was due to the transphobia on the minds of the people.  The prejudice with which they were approached was a demotivation factor for people who were already struggling for a decent livelihood, she said.