95% of engineering students leave Goa for better jobs

by RAMNATH N PAI RAIKAR
Posted on 2008-10-05
PANAJI- Nearly 95 per cent of the 900 to 1,000 engineering students who annually pass out from the three state engineering colleges, leave the state in search of better jobs and lucrative careers, with no way existing to hold them back in Goa.
The chairman of the Goa Public Service Commission, Mr Prakash Desai, acknowledging the fact said that most of the local students graduating from various state professional colleges including engineering institutions are moving out to places like Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai apart from foreign countries, for their livelihood.
In an exclusive tete-a-tete with ‘The Navhind Times’, Mr Desai said that substantial out-migration of Goan youth had started since 1998 which has not only reduced the number of local youth in Goa but has also created diverse social problems including their parents being forced to lead a lonely life.
The GPSC chairman further suggested creation of a forum, a platform, which would facilitate interaction between parents and the government as regards unavailability of adequate jobs for the new generation local students. He also hinted that major amendments in the State IT Policy and the State Industrial Policy could attract maximum industrial units in the state. “The only way government can arrest this talent drain is by requesting major companies like Wipro, Infosys and Mastek to set up their shops in Goa,” Mr Desai said, adding that it can happen if the government provides best of facilities and incentives to these companies.
The GPSC chief also stated that large number of Goan youth, who are highly placed with various corporate giants around the country are ready to come down to Goa, provided they are offered adequate jobs in their native land.
The parents can now interact with the government and try to find a solution to this problem, or else within a couple of decades, Generation Next of Goa will migrate to various places around the country and the globe,” he stated, maintaining that the new generation youth, with no attachment to this state, would sell off their land and properties, and Goa would no more belong to Goans, in the real sense of the phrase. “On the social side, the old parents will be left alone at home without physical support of their children who would be miles away from Goa,” the GPSC chairman noted.
As for the GPSC recruitment, Mr Desai informed, we are able to fill 70 to 75 per cent of the posts advertised by us, as per the requirement of the state government, after finding suitable candidates, either at the state or the national level. However, it is very difficult to fill up the posts requiring specialised or super-specialised qualifications from the candidates, he said, pointing out that such candidates prefer getting employed with private companies/ agencies who can provide much more salaries, than those available under the government pay structure. “In fact, we had tried to provide more salaries for such posts, like super-specialists in various faculties of medicine and pharmacists, by employing the candidates on contract and providing them with higher pay packages, apart from other incentives like accommodation, etc,” Mr Desai informed, adding, “However, the private firms offered them still higher money and poached them right under our nose.”
“Unfortunately, today, we are not having enough lecturers at the Goa College of Pharmacy, as also principal for the institution,” the GPSC chairman lamented, stating that the Goa College of Engineering is also in need of lecturers while the Goa Medical College is awaiting filling of some posts as regards senior doctors.
Apart from the low salaries available under the government pay structure, the highly educated candidates fear to come to Goa, as this is a relatively smaller place and can possibly prevent their careers from further growth, he observed. “To cite an example,” Mr Desai said, “The graduates in dentistry, passing out of the state dental college prefer to work with any of the countless dental colleges, which have mushroomed in states like Maharashtra and Karnataka.”
Mr Desai also expressed concern over the ban on de-reservation of the reserved posts.
“Initially, the GPSC used to advertise reserved posts on a couple of occasions, and failing to find adequate candidates, would de-reserve the posts so that they would not remain vacant,” he said, adding, “However, now, we have to keep the reserved posts vacant till right candidates under the particular categories are found, or by that time, fill the posts on contract basis.”