Jobs, farm distress in focus for Jharkhand govt – india news

The Jharkhand government will convene a three-day session of the assembly from January 6, the state cabinet decided on Sunday, shortly after Hemant Soren took office as the 11th chief minister following the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led alliance’s election victory.

Senior JMM MLA Stephen Marandi, who was named as pro-tem speaker, will conduct the first House till a regular Speaker is elected, an official statement said. Chaired by Soren and attended by three state ministers who took oath on Sunday, the state cabinet decided to clear arrears of para-teachers, contractual employees, anganwadi workers and student scholarships. The statement said directions have also been issued to fill vacancies in government departments and that fast-track courts will to be set up in every district to speed up trials of cases relating to sexual offences.

Experts said several tasks lie ahead for the JMM-Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) alliance, which won 47 seats in the assembly elections, defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which secured 25 constituencies.

In their election manifestos, the JMM and the Congress promised loan waivers to farmers, higher minimum support price for paddy, and unemployment allowance to youth. The parties also promised to fill all vacancies in government departments in six months. “It is still to be worked out what kind of financial burden loan waiver for farmers,” said a senior state government official requesting anonymity.

A senior JMM leader, who asked not to be named, said some of the decisions would need laws to be tweaked, which will be taken up in the alliance’s common minimum programme. “Ending unemployment has been a major poll issue. Both parties have promised to fill all vacancies in the government. The Congress has promised to fill them in six months. The JMM has promised to amend the domicile and the employment policy of the state to benefit the locals. This would require legislative amendments. We are aware of the challenges and we hope to settle them at the earliest,” the JMM leader said.

The winning coalition in Jharkhand will soon release a CMP to outline the priorities of its government. The main points of the CMP will be taken from the respective manifestos of the three parties, a senior Congress leader has told Hindustan Times.

(With inputs from PTI)