The government has undertaken an initiative to ensure no jobless person remains in 492 villages of 492 upazilas of 64 districts of the country. Villages to be included under the project would be selected on the basis of their rate of poverty. A committee would be formed in this regard with upazila chairman, upazila Nirbahi officer and local dignitaries as members.
Based on the recommendations of the committee, the final verdict of making the village free of unemployment will be brought under a pilot project, said sources in Youth and Sports Ministry. The total number of villages in 492 upazilas in the country is 89,399. Of these, only 492 villages will be taken up in a scheme called ‘Bekarmukto Gram Srijon Prokolpo' by the Youth and Sports Ministry.
According to ministry sources, seven ICT training van (Air-conditioned minibus) have been taken around to provide IT training to the unemployed offering services through computer system, internet facilities, multimedia projectors, audio systems, etc., under the project 'Technology Empowerment Center on Wheels for Under-Privileged Rural Young People of Bangladesh'. Through this, unemployed villagers will not have to go to the city for receiving training. They will receive training at home. At the same time, a modern computer laboratory has been set up in each district. In these labs, the government will create employment opportunities for trained youths. Online application for training and loans has also been introduced.
It is known that in addition to the 83 trades, new trades are also being introduced. Through this, unemployed youths are being made more efficient in gaining employment opportunities abroad. Trained youths are using their knowledge to contribute directly to local production.
Abdur Rashid, chairman of Sohagadal Union Parishad No 2 of Swarupakathi (Nesarabad) upazila of Pirojpur district, said, "Such projects will inspire the youths of the country and this will contribute to the elimination of unemployment in the country.” Farooq Ahmed, director general of the Youth Development Department, said, “Firstly, the number of unemployed in the whole village will be determined. Among them educated, illiterate, skilled, unskilled youths will be identified. The financial condition will also be taken in consideration. Then necessary training along with bank loan will be given to those indentified unemployed youths. Under this project, they will also be provided employment opportunities abroad.”
“There will be a defined policy in this regard. According to the policy there will be a committee at the upazila level. That committee will recommend those youths. In the meantime, we will have one training center in each district. A holistic approach will be taken by ‘Bekarmukto Gram Srijon Prokolpo' and training center together, he added.
State Minister for Youth and Sports Zahid Ahsan Russell said, "We have some projects underway. We have sent some of these to the planning ministry and some are working on the DPP (Development Project Proposal). He said that in one of the 492 villages in 64 districts, i.e one village in each upazila will be made free of unemployed persons. DPP has been made of this project. We will send it to DPP within a few days.”
"We have undertaken a new concept. We will not keep any unemployed youth in these villages. We will create self-employment or will provide employment somewhere.” When asked how the unemployment list would be done, Zahid Ahsan said, "There is no recommendation in this case, we will choose the underprivileged villages first. Then accordingly we will move to other villages.” He said. “There are many villages in an upazila. It is not possible to create jobs for every unemployed person. However, the purpose of choosing one village from all the villages of the upazila under this programme is to make the neighboring villages free from unemployment.
By looking at the features of unemployment free village, the youths of the neighbouring villages will also want to see their villages to be free from unemployment. And then, they will want to replicate it. And in doing so, they will make various plans to free their village from unemployment. A time will come when the picture of the unemployment in Bangladesh will change. For this reason, whenever needed, such assistance will be provided by the government. The implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) would reduce the unemployment rate in Bangladesh to 3 percent by 2030. That is why such programmes will actually bring welfare.” He said the unemployment rate in the country is currently 28 percent.
In this regard, a total of 27 lakh 18 thousand 688 people have been trained in various trades in the country from January 1, 2019 to June 30. At the same time, 6 lakh 82 thousand 40 people became self-sufficient through self-employment. At the same time, a total of 2,29,921 trained youths have been given loan of Tk 1,29,25,96,000.
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