Assam seeks to reverse youth migration through investment, industrial growth: Himanta Sarma

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, on Friday said his government was seeking to reverse youth migration by attracting investments, expanding industries and creating employment opportunities within the state itself.

Sarma said young people had been leaving Assam because of inadequate investments, industries and jobs. He said the government or public sector employment had remained among the few options, insufficient for a state with a large and growing young population.

The Chief Minister said the Covid-19 pandemic had reinforced his resolve to address the problem.

He recalled seeing students and young people working far from home during the pandemic because they could not find jobs in Assam, adding that many continued to do so.

Sarma said the government's approach was to make Assam capable of employing its own people while attracting skilled professionals and talent from across the country and the world.

He linked the investment push to improved security, saying peace accords and stability had helped create momentum for development.

Investment, he said, had been a priority since his government assumed office. As an example of the effort to move from investment announcements to implementation, Sarma cited Friday's foundation stone ceremony for an integrated cement plant in Dima Hasao.

The first phase entails an investment commitment of ₹1,800 crore and is expected to create 1,000 jobs.

The company producing the cement has committed around ₹11,000 crore in total investment in Assam, he said, with Phase II expected to follow.

Sarma also said most memorandums of understanding signed under the Advantage Assam 2.0 initiative had been grounded.

The employment challenge, however, will depend not merely on investment announcements but on projects becoming operational, the quality of jobs created and the extent to which local people secure them.

For Assam, the government's stated ambition is to broaden opportunities beyond public employment and build a diversified, competitive industrial economy.

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