By Dr Ashok Kumar Panda
Bhubaneswar, July 29 : The two day Job mela organized by the Indian Chamber of Commerce on July 27-28 was a stellar success. The response was indeed overwhelming and encouraging. Raghubar Das, Governor of Odisha who was the chief guest on the occasion extolled the endeavour of the ICC and said this is indeed a laudable gesture and is the right platform to offer jobs and encourage the job seekers of our State. Though Odisha is endowed with immense natural resources and mines but still there is large unemployment in the State. Paradip Port is also the largest port in the country. Our focus should be on tourism, particularly beach tourism as Odisha has a long coast line. Textile is another area which will add to our growth and also provide large employment. With proper industrial growth and increase in skilled workers very soon Odisha should be among the top States in the country he asserted.
In his welcome address J.B Pani ,Chairman, Odisha State Council said this is indeed a ground breaking exercise for ICC to create a platform for job seekers and employers .The response from the industry as well as job aspirants was beyond our expectations.ICC shall make every possible endeavour to facilitate growth and development in the State.ICC will be completing 100 years next year and we will be celebrating the centenary year with different programmes and conclaves he added.
Rajib Sahoo, senior vice president, ICC,Odisha said unemployment is a great challenge for our country and by all means we must try to meet this challenge. ICC in its own humble way is trying to contribute to the growth phenomena of the State and thereby creating job opportunities for the unemployed. Sikata Das, convenor of the ICC job mela said this is the platform for celebrations, encouragement networking and job opportunities.she expressed her gratitude to her team members ,different organizations and job aspirants for their support.
Dr Badri Nath Patnaik Advisor and Mentor Skill & Education Committee ICC, Odisha pointed out that we need more concerted effort to build Odisha as an advanced industrial State. It is indeed unfortunate that over two crore persons are employed in different parts of the country due to abysmal employment opportunity in the State.It is high time we promote start ups and the MSME sector in our State for growth and development and increase our job opportunities for our people. He also expressed his gratitude to the Odisha Governor Raghubar Das for visiting all the 30 districts of the State to take a stock of the growth potential of the State.
Mr Prabodh Mohanty Member ,Core & Advivory Committee, ICC, Odisha, guest of honour in his address appealed to the industry fraternity to extend their support to make Odisha more vibrant and developed. He also extended his special thanks to the skill and education committee for making the job mela a grand success. J.P. Pal, Regional Director, ICC Odisha State Council while proposing the vote of thanks in the inaugural session extended his gratitude to the Odisha Governor for his gracious presence and encouragement. He also thanked all the ICC members for their unstinted support.
Addressing the valedictory session as Chief Guest Prithiviraj Harchandan, Minister for Excise, Law and works Government of Odisha expressed his appreciation for the commendable job mela organized by Indian Chamber of Commerce. He said odisha government will extend all possible support to ICC to develop skill development centres in the State which will immensely contribute to the development of Odisha and also provide ample job opportunities.
M.Aruna, General Manager, Indian Bank who was the guest of honour in the valedictory session while appreciating the success of the Job mela said she will extend her full support to such laudable endeavours of ICC in the years ahead. Co Convenor Dr R.K.Das, Nidhi Dhawan and Sanjukta Panda had an active role in the success of the job mela. The programme had different plenary sessions addressed by industry experts and academia for the benefit of the job aspirants. The two day sessions were compared by Ankita Kundu. 40 industries, banks, hospitals educational institutes and HR consultancy firms and more than 2000 job aspirants participated in the two day job mela.