Morung Express News
Chümoukedima | June 29
Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio today stated that the Nagaland’s designation as the state with the highest unemployment rate in the country was a serious concern and batted for venturing out into various fields to meet the challenge.
“This is a serious concern for us since we are all aware that avenues of employment in the government are limited. Therefore, we have to venture out into other fields as well,” he said, addressing the inauguration of Norman Putsure College here today at Ward 10, Chümoukedima.
Rio made the observation reflecting on the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for 2020-21 released by the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) this month.
As per the survey covering July 2020 to June 2021, the unemployment rate in Nagaland was 19.2% in age group of 15 years and above, while it was 19.3 for all ages.
During the same period, the all-India unemployment rate was 4.2% as per the usual status (i.e. usual principal status and the subsidiary status).
In addition, the survey put the youth (15-29 years) unemployment rate in the state at 55.2% while 30.8% of ‘educated’ (15 years and above) were unemployed against the All-India average of 9.1%.
The survey carried out by the National Statistical Office (NSO) under the MoSPI defined educated persons as “those who have attained the educational level of secondary and above.”
The rates for Nagaland in three categories were highest among the states and Union Territories (UTs) in India.
Alluding to this, the Chief Minister said that from the Nagaland University alone, an average of about 7000 plus graduates are passing out each year while a total of 13,989 students cleared their Class XII in various streams under the Nagaland Board of School Education in 2022.
“This excludes our students passing out from other states or elsewhere,” he added.
In addition, he informed that there are 15 Government Colleges with 11,115 enrolments with Kohima Science College as autonomous college and 54 Private Colleges with 22,349 enrolments in 2021. Out of 54 private colleges, St Joseph’s College and Patkai Christian College are private autonomous colleges. The State also has four universities.
He, however, expressed confidence that students of ‘our state will be able to compete with their peers in other states’ and venture out into various fields.
