Tejashwi Yadav's big poll pledge: A government job for every household

PATNA: In a high-stakes pre-poll move, RJD neta and INDIA bloc coordination committee chairman Tejashwi Prasad Yadav Thursday promised a government job for every household in Bihar and pledged to introduce the legislation within just 20 days of taking office. "NDA government could not provide jobs to the youth in 20 years, but we will bring the Act within 20 days of coming to power and also ensure its implementation within 20 months," Tejashwi told reporters at his residence.

Currently, just over 20 lakh people hold government positions out of the total of 2.76 crore households in Bihar, according to the recent caste survey. "We provided more than five lakh jobs in just 17 months. Imagine what would have happened had we remained in power for a full five-year term," Tejashwi said, referring to his tenure in the previous Grand Alliance government.

JD(U) ridiculed the promise and questioned how jobs could be provided to more than 2.76 crore households within 20 months and took a dig at Lalu Prasad's family over allegations of distributing jobs in exchange for land. JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar asked, "Why only one member in a family? Many members, if qualified, can get govt jobs?"

Political expert D M Diwakar said 'job to every household' is a fairly new idea and could work wonders in Bihar elections since unemployment remains a major issue. He said, massive infrastructure in education, health and agriculture would be necessary to deliver on the promise. "For example, to give a job to every family, at least one member in the family must be a matriculate, for which a large number of schools have to be set up," said Diwakar, former director of A N Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna .