Nearly 150 members of the Democratic Youth federation of India (DYFI) staged a demonstration at Dighalipukhuri here on Monday against the Assam government’s decision to cut the grade IV posts from the list of government employees.

“When the employment situation in Assam is bleak, the Assam government is adopting a policy to abolish the grade IV posts, which will have a negative impact on job creation. This policy is only to outsource manpower to private parties. We are demanding the government to revoke this decision as soon as possible,” DYFI Assam state committee general secretary Nayan Bhuyan said on Monday.

“This policy will curtail job opportunities in the government sector. The youth are always looking for a secure job. If these jobs are abolished from the list of government employees then where will the youths go for jobs?” he asked.

According to a report on fifth annual employment- unemployment survey (2015–16) from the ministry of labour and employment, 96 people of Assam are unemployed in every 1,000 people.

“As we see, from the last year, the government has taken several decisions, like closing down of the paper mills at Jagiroad and Hailakandi, which shows the state government’s failure to fulfil the promises it made to the people,” Assam DYFI president Loknath Adhikari said.

“We also demand the government to fill up all the backlog posts and provide permanent posts to the contractual teachers. If our demands are not fulfilled, we will intensify our protests against the state government,” he added.