Odisha (previously known as Orissa) is the Indian state well-known for its tribal culture and numerous magnificent Hindu temples, located in the eastern region on the Bay of Bengal. Particularly, the capital city Bhubaneshwar is renowned for being home to hundreds of notable temples, specially the Lingaraj and many, others like the famous Jagannath Temple in Puri. However, as recognised the state is for its cultural grandeur and its spectacular natural beauty, unfortunately, the same cannot be said about its industrial development and modernization in general. And thus, owing to the lack of industrial exposure the city is able to provide, the Odia youngsters find themselves at a loss of sufficient career opportunities, leaving them with no choice but to explore options outside their hometown with a need to move to another state.

Sources suggested that in Odisha, more than 1 crore of the youth under 25 years of age is rather struggling to find a suitable job and so, many of them come to Delhi/ NCR to look for jobs that match their qualification. Despite of being home to some of the established academic institutions like AIIMS, IIT and IIM, the fact remains that only a handful of students get admission in these colleges while the rest of the major lot are finding it rather hard to survive. Students who do not score that high and are average in their grades, generally opt for basic courses like B.A. and B.com etc. and thus, do not find much ground within the state to accommodate for them. As the state has limited industries which are developed properly, employment opportunities, even if there, are only very limited and in no way sufficient for its major populace of youngsters.

When the Odia youngsters come to more developed and industrially advanced cities such as Delhi, they find the doors opening to a varied number of options other than just the traditional roles of becoming a doctor or an engineer. For instance, the advent of the internet and other advanced virtual technologies has given birth to a rather progressive industry of digital marketing and its related branches such PR (public relations) agencies and ORM (online reputation management) firms. This is a promising zone, employing thousands of fresher  with different academic backgrounds in varied roles such as digital marketing, administration work, accounting , graphic designing, SEO and Social Media analyst  etc. And almost, every other company today is in need of good marketing and PR and thus, the future of such creative industries is definitely bright. This promise of a better future in unconventional job profiles, accommodating for their basic educational qualification in the best way possible, is what attracts a majority of Odia youngsters as well as the young lot of other such states to modern cities like Delhi/ NCR.

Speaking of Delhi, while there were already commercial zones existing such as Connaught Place, Netaji Subhash Place, Saket, Nehru Place and Bikaji Cama Place among others, the NCR region is also on a roll with Noida and Gurgaon, in particular, becoming the hub for big companies and thereafter, for job seeking candidates as well. Also, the fact that the city is witnessing serious growth in the number of start-up ventures entering the market at a rapid pace and many of them actually making their name all too soon, serves as an added advantage to Odia youngsters. As these start-ups are themselves new, they also prefer fresher candidates with basic degrees yet a zeal to excel ahead in life.

Not just becoming a part of start-ups, several fresh graduates coming from places like Odisha who look forward to establishing their own business enterprises, are often attracted to Delhi for the easy availability of resources and manpower to launch their own project. Moreover, not just the basic degree holders like B.A, B.com, even the law graduates are also coming to the city in search of better growth opportunities in their career for the Delhi courts serve as a great platform for them to learn and progress. Already, there are a number of established lawyers who dwell from states like Odisha and have already made it big in Delhi, gaining loads of experience and exposure. Even the students preparing for UPSC courses do not get much aid in the state due to the lack of good training institutes available and thus, shift to Delhi in search of better training facilities.

Also, when it comes to youth aspirations for going abroad for studying and eventually working in prominent places like the US, UK etc., the capital city provides some of the best training institutes for taking appropriate training to sit in GMAT, GRE and similar examinations. Even when it comes to the native language of the state, Odia, Delhi caters for the accommodation of several language experts, regional experts and translators for a range of roles in numerous publication houses and KPOs (knowledge process outsourcing) or BPOs/ call centres to present a myriad of options for Odia regional language students. 

Even though it is a great thing that the Odia youngsters are coming to cities like Delhi/ NCR and fulfilling their ambitions in just the way they want but at the same time it is also sad that these aspiring students/ candidates are having to leave their hometown unceremoniously, away from their near and dear ones, away from their native habitat, in search of better career options just to make their future bright. While, if the Odisha Government takes better note of this fact and focuses more sincerely on creating better industries within our state itself, it will increase the opportunities for our youth within our respective hometown itself, without having the need to leave everything and settle down in an alien land. Here’s a humble request which certainly needs to be put forward to the hon’ble chief minister of the state, Shri Naveen Patnaik, the longest serving chief minister till yet, to kindly bring your attention to this aspect of industrial progression of Odisha, in order to make it easier for our own employment seeking youth of today.