Unemployment fuelling extremism: Meghalaya CM

Trinamool Congress slams State government for depriving youths of job opportunities

GUWAHATI

Days after receiving threat mails from a “terror group of qualified jobless youths”, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma has admitted that unemployment and socio-economic factors have been fuelling extremism in the State.

He said governments across the globe have been trying to deal with the unemployment issue. The Meghalaya government, too, has been pursuing programmes to promote entrepreneurship toward creation of jobs, he said.

Mr. Sangma is the chief of the National People’s Party (NPP), which heads a coalition government in Meghalaya. Its constituents include the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“Our government has been putting in efforts to make the youths employable. We have come up with programmes in sectors such as food processing, tourism and small-scale industries,” he said.

His predecessor and Trinamool Congress leader Mukul M. Sangma disagreed. He said the State government was “least bothered about creating job opportunities”.

It has instead been blocking the avenues for the youth, triggering resentment among them, he said.