KCR announces one lakh job opportunities in three years

Hyderabad: The Telangana government would provide one lakh jobs in the next three years, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said on Sunday and called for formulating a sound policy on education and skill development for youth. These jobs will be provided in the government sector, Rao announced during his reply to the Motion of Thanks on Governor's address to the joint sitting of the legislature on March 10.

Stating that about thousands of teachers and engineering graduates are coming out of colleges every year in Telangana, the chief minister regretted there were instances when they worked under the NREGS (rural job scheme). There should be a sound policy and thorough debate in the House with regard to education, skill development and employment opportunities for youth, Rao said. Referring to criticism from Opposition members during the debate that Vice-Chancellors have not been appointed in several universities, he said the government was taking time to fill the vacancies as it wants to select persons of high calibre and integrity as VCs. Speaking on the Rohith Vemula issue, Rao expressed sympathy for the deceased research scholar, who committed suicide in the University of Hyderabad campus last month.

Congress and other Opposition leaders had earlier accused the TRS government of not speaking adequately on the issue. On the occasion, Rao appeared to take a dig at events like kiss festival in the country (organised to protest moral policing), wondering whether such things would be accepted in India. Referring to the TRS' pre-election promise of providing 12 per cent reservation each for minorities and STs (the latter have 7.5 pc quota), he said the two commissions appointed by his government are looking into the issue.

Noting that according to court guidelines reservations are allowed up to 50 percent, Rao said Tamil Nadu government is giving 69 per cent quota after it passed a resolution in the state Assembly and took it to Parliament. Telangana government would call a special session of the Legislative Assembly to pass such a resolution, he said. Rao accused Congress of doing injustice to Telangana in irrigation projects (when the party was in power in undivided Andhra Pradesh). The leaders of Andhra had conspired to push Telangana irrigation projects into inter-state and environment issues in the undivided AP, he alleged.

After the formation of Telangana in June 2014, the TRS-led government took up re-designing of irrigation projects for state's benefit, he said. Referring to the recent agreement between Telangana and Maharashtra on cooperation in irrigation projects, he said his government wanted to move ahead in a spirit of cooperation.

Taking exception to Congress leaders' comments that the state government mortgaged the interests of Telangana in the agreement with Maharashtra, Rao said his administration would provide irrigation facility to one lakh acres in every Assembly constituency in the coming years.