Wipro, Genpact pick up tribal students at job fair

Over 8,000 candidates, mostly tribals from south Orissa’s Koraput, Nabarangapur and Malkanagiri districts have received job offers from various private companies, mostly from outside the state, in a two-day mega job fair held near Jeypore in the backward and tribal-dominated Koraput district.

The job offers have come from companies in various sectors like information technology, BPO (Business Process Outsourcing), hospitality, civil construction, and security services. The job fair was jointly conducted by the State Employment Mission and the Koraput district administration recently.

"Around 22,000 candidates from these three-Maoist infested districts had registered their names for the event. Out of them, over 8000 candidates were selected for employment on the spot”, said Nihar Ranjan Das, the Jeypore sub-collector (Jeypore).

At least 35 different reputed companies across the country including Wipro, Genpact and Birla participated in the event.

While the first day of the fair was organized for the candidates of Nabarangapur and Malkanagiri districts, the concluding day was meant for the candidates of Koraput district.

Montek Singh Ahuliwalia, the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, on Wednesday, appreciated the efforts taken by the state government to give employment opportunity to the tribal youths in the backward area.

The State Employment Mission Director, A K Padhee highlighted the steps taken by the state to provide employment opportunities to the tribal youth at the meeting of the National Skill Development Corporation held in New Delhi recently. Ahuliwalia presided over the meeting.

The Koraput district administration in collaboration with the State Employment Mission (SEM) had conducted the job fair for the first time in the state last year. Around 4000 unemployed youths in the district had got employment last year. The district administration is planning to hold the job fair once in every six months keeping in view the overwhelming response of the educated unemployed in the district.

“The school and college dropout tribal youths who are being lured by the leftwing extremists will not be attracted towards the Maoist movements, if they get instant employments in different companies. This was one of the ways to arrest the leftwing extremism (LWE) in these tribal-dominated districts” said a senior officer of the Koraput district administration.