Mukesh Chaudhary from Uchchhitthi village in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh was struggling to get a good job to support his family, when hope came in the form of a 68-year-old library in the district headquarter which was transformed into a hi-tech hub. The facilities provided in the library helped Mukesh prepare for and get the 9th rank in the state’s teacher recruitment exam.
Not just him, several other youths have benefitted from the transformation of the library. Seeing its success, every block in the district now has a study centre named ‘Mitan Centre’ (‘mitan’ means ‘youth’ in the local language) with a library. The credit goes to District Collector, Mr. Taran Prakash Sinha, who believes that lack of opportunities and unemployment are the main reasons for all law and order issues.
Speaking to Indian Masterminds, the 2012-batch IAS officer of Chhattisgarh cadre said that Raigarh district, which has around 40% tribal population, has many distractions for the youth that are leading them towards wrong paths, and the only way to save them was to engage them and empower them with better opportunities.
BRITISH ERA LIBRARY TRANSFORMED
The district had a British-era library which was last renovated in the 1960s. There was ample space and a good number of books but nobody visited it due to its dilapidated condition. The administration took the initiative to transform it with high-tech facilities like WiFi, 220 separate cabins for students, conference hall and discussion room. Every Saturday, Career Guidance Program is also held here for the youth by government officers. With all these facilities, the footfall increased and seeing the success, the administration created such centres in each block, naming them Mitan Clubs.
MITAN CLUB
Talking about the Mitan Club, Mr. Sinha said that a youth felicitation centre was required in tribal areas that could solve the local issues, especially career related issues of the youth. So, Mitan Centre was established in all the seven blocks and an extra one in Dharam Jaigarh, which is a remote area.
In Gharghoda, a boys’ primary school constructed during the British era had fallen into disrepair. With support from NTPC, Talai Pali, the district administration renovated the school and transformed it into a Mitan centre.
Each of these centres has a library with a seating capacity of 25-30 people, a digital library, three- four computers, sports library that includes indoor games like ludo, chess, a conference room and WiFi facilities and daily newspaper subscriptions. Here, young people can meet and participate in a variety of activities, like, for example, career guidance, group discussions, sports, etc.
In association with the mining industries’ CSR activities, the administration also provides coaching facilities, exam preparation classes for competitive exams like Neet/JEE, at the club free of cost. “District administration has also provided the library facility at the cluster level, namely Hati and Navrangpur, and is planning to open such centres in more remote areas so that the youth can get a good education environment near their homes,” Collector Sinha said.
RECRUITMENT THROUGH PORTAL
The administration further met the management of the local industries and asked them to recruit local youth.
Following this, a District Employment Committee was formed and it launched the Raigarh Rojgar Mitan Portal. Through this portal, employers can post vacancies and job seekers can get notifications of that vacancy and also know the time and venue of the placement drive. This portal was launched on 4 April 2023 at the Tamnar Mega Rojgar Mela. In this Portal, more then 3500 job seekers and around 100 companies registered themselves and around 1000 candidates have got placements in different companies till now. The link of the portal is – raigarhrozgarmitan.in
The portal is real time and any individual who wants a job can fill out a form after registering on it. Based on the qualification and interest, they are suggested various jobs and called for the interviews.
In this way, Mitan Club and portal are offering the youth an opportunity to pursue their aspirations by creating a conducive environment for exam preparation and growth, especially in the tribal areas.
