Madhya Pradesh to provide 7.5 lakh jobs: CM Chouhan

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) : Madhya Pradesh has set target of providing employment to 7.5 lakh youth, said Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday.

He was addressing a press conference on the occasion of completing 12 years as the state's chief minister.

"My top priority is employment generation and for this we are working towards developing skilled manpower. We are also encouraging self-employment. We have set a target of providing employment to 7.5 lakh youth by making them skilled. This is a mission for us. Last year we provided jobs to three lakh youth," Chouhan said.

He also said the government's another priority is to diversify the agriculture sector.

"We are also working towards diversifying agriculture because when the produce is increased then there is a chance of price fall. To tackle this, we have launched a scheme in which the young farmers will get loan on the guarantee of the government for agriculture and allied sectors," the Chief Minister said.

While outlining other priorities, Chouhan said, "One of our priorities is to ensure that everyone owns a piece of land."

He said the government will continue to focus on education and health sectors as a lot needs to be done in these sectors.

He thanked the people of the state for their support and love to him.

"It is because of people's support that once a backward Madhya Pradesh has now in the line of the developed states. Madhya Pradesh is agriculture based state and we realised that once the farmers are provided with irrigation facility then they would do rest of things. Around 12-13 years back, the irrigation facility which was in 7.5 lakh hectares has now reached up to 40 lakh hectares, and every year we are adding four-five lakh hectares into it," the Chief Minister said.

He further added that today Madhya Pradesh is a power surplus state and with a broad network of roads.

"Apart from development, we launched various public welfare schemes, many of them were started after getting feedback from the public. The scheme for the talented students' higher education was launched so that the beneficiaries' dreams shouldn't die," Chouhan said.

Chouhan said it was his biggest achievement that he remained a common man while being on the chief minister's post.

"My every breath was for the development of Madhya Pradesh. I want to thank the all the societies of the state for their love and support, which is my actual strength. I also tried to ensure that after becoming Chief Minister I shouldn't become VIP because the chief minister in a democracy is a public servant. It is my biggest achievement that despite being chief minister I remained a common man," Chouhan said.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan is the 18th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. He replaced Babulal Gaur as chief minister on November 29, 2005.