As corruption charges swirl around and central agencies lay siege to his government, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday announced an ambitious plan to create at least 50,000 jobs in 100 days; on an average 500 jobs per day till January 8, 2021.

"50,000 jobs are guaranteed in 100 days but the intention is to create 95,000 jobs in 100 days," the chief minister said during his sunset briefing in Thiruvananthapuram.

Job creation will also be publicly tracked. The chief minister said that details of jobs created and the name and address of the newly employed would be published every two weeks.

Most of the jobs will be created in three major sectors - industry (23,100), government (18,600), and cooperation (17,500) - and one government mission, Kudumbshree (15,441).

The new jobs proposed to be created include direct employment (permanent, temporary and contract government jobs), regularisation of existing jobs (6,911 posts in aided schools alone), and also self employment, which is sought to be encouraged by way of promoting skills and investment. The government intends to disburse at least Rs 8,000 crore as interest and subsidy to investors in this short period.

The government also hopes to prod local governments into action by infusing a competitive spirit. "Local bodies that generate five non-agriculture jobs for every 1,000 people will be specially honoured," the chief minister said.

Government jobs and PSC

In the government sector, most of the direct jobs will be in the education and health departments.

Since recruitment to posts in the government sector are done through the Public Service Commission, the chief minister said that department heads had been given strict instructions to report existing vacancies to the PSC on an urgent basis.

The plan is to appoint at least 5,000 people through the PSC in the next 100 days. This looks an achievable target as even now, the PSC on an average sends advice memo to 2,000-2,500 candidates a month.

However, a major issue that hampers PSC recruitment is the absence of special rules for many government departments and quasi-government bodies.

The PSC can make appointments only on the basis of special rules, which prescribe the qualifications and other relevant aspects for each post in a department or entity. Pollution Control Board, Universities (of the 21 non-academic posts in universities, special rules exist only for assistant and computer assistant), Milma, Matsyafed and Bhasha Institute are some of the government bodies that have still not got their special rules approved.

"In some cases, the lack of approval of special rules has frozen appointments," the chief minister said. to untangle the problem, he said a permanent committee of Finance, Law, and Personal & Administration departments would be formed to grant approval to special rules.

Once the special rules are approved, the most number of jobs in the agro-industry sector will be created in Kerfed: 348. The 42 Public Sector Units alone will account for 3,977 of the direct jobs in the government sector.

Investor's haven

The most number of jobs will be in the industry sector, and the chief minister proposed to generate them mainly through generous loan and subsidy schemes.

He said in the first quarter of the 2020-21 fiscal itself, 3,498 micro medium and small industries (MSME) units had come up in Kerala. "In the second quarter, a minimum of 2,500 units that could create 7,200 jobs would be established," he said.

Apart from that, the chief minister said 4,053 people who had registered under the MSME Facilitation Act had been granted permission to start units. These units, he said, could create at least 600 jobs.

Central schemes would also be utilised to create jobs. For instance, the additional loan of Rs 4,525 crore disbursed as part of the Centre's rejuvenation package would be used to create at least 1,200 jobs.

Another 3,000 jobs will be created in Cashew Development Corporation and Capex in the next 100 days. "We are trying to remove the import hurdles that have sprung up as a result of COVID," the chief minister said.

In 2019, Cashew Development Corporation has provided 161 days of employment and Capex has provided 214 days of employment.

Nearly 1,750 jobs are expected to be created through the mechanisation of traditional sectors like agriculture and coir.

The chief minister said the IT sector would provide 2,500 jobs. This looks more like a fond wish as it depends on the completion of the new IT building in Technocity within two months.

Competitive cooperation

Of the 17,500 jobs expected in the cooperation sector, over 13,000 would be created on the basis of loans provided by primary cooperative societies or Kerala Bank. The chief minister said targets would be set for cooperative banks.

"If one primary cooperative society or branch facilitates the opening of two Rs-5-lakh ventures or one Rs 10-lakh venture, we can easily achieve our job target for the cooperation sector," the chief minister said. The government has earmarked Rs 1,000 crore for the purpose. This is a huge step up from the Rs 134 crore that was set apart for the Cooperation sector in the 2020-21 Budget.

Women-run budget hotels and craft stores

The 15,441 jobs proposed through Kudumbashree will be both wage-based and self employment. Skilling will be an integral part of job creation through Kudumbashree. The Mission will open 500 more 'People's Food Courts' within 100 days, providing at least 1,500 new jobs; the 2020-21 Budget had promised 1,000 such food courts this fiscal.

Kudumbashree will also open 300 coir-craft-food stores across Kerala in 100 days, creating another 1,500 jobs.