Inaugurating the Employment Counselling Fair, 2006, organised by the directorate of employment and training, at the Bharatiya Nritya Kala Mandir here, Modi exhorted students stepping out of universities to either look for jobs in the private sector or opt for self-employment as the number of government jobs was on the decline.

Modi said he had requested urban development minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey to locate land in Patna where one lakh kiosks could be set up. Such kiosks would be allotted to unemployed matriculate youths, he added.

The deputy CM also exhorted students from Bihar to be IT-savvy, which, he claimed, would help them in getting jobs in abroad as well.

In future, students with conventional degrees like BSc, BCom and BA will find it difficult to secure good jobs, he added.To encourage vocational and professional degree courses in the state, Modi announced to set up over two dozen institutions in the state.

He claimed that half a dozen of such institutions would start functioning within a year's time. Modi further said that thousands of students from Bihar migrate to other states every year to pursue higher studies.

This leads to loss of revenue in crores, he said and added that with the setting up of professional degree colleges in the state, quality education would be available for students at their doorstep.

Inviting private participation in setting up of such institutions, Modi called for organising such fairs in the rural areas as well so that students could be made aware of the job prospects.

Commissioner and secretary of the labour employment and training department Shakeel Ahmad said that all the employment exchanges in the state would hold similar fairs in future.