Milan Utsav to be held from today at Park Circus, career counselling for youths in tow

Kolkata: 'Milan Utsav', an annual trade fair, will be organised at Park Circus for five days from February 1. The West Bengal Minorities Development and Financial Corporation (WBMDFC) is organising the trade fair, with an objective to attract the youths to a career counselling programme.

The trade fair will also provide a platform to promote cultural harmony. Organising a programme to spread across the message of harmony is significant at a time when widespread protests are being held across the state over the amended Citizenship Act. A lot of emphasis has been given on the protection of minorities and preservation of communal harmony.

A job fair and career counselling session will be held during the five days of Milan Utsav, which will be extremely beneficial for the youths from the city and its adjoining areas.

The fair would be inaugurated at 5:30 p.m. on February 1 and a host of ministers including Panchayat minister

Subrata Mukherjee, Mayor Firhad Hakim, Disaster Management minister Javed Khan and Mass Education and Library minister Giasuddin Mollah are expected to be present on the occasion.

The five-day long programme would also comprise a health mela, cultural programmes and handicrafts stalls and food stalls. Inter-college or inter-school programmes, sit and draw competition as well as sport competitions would also be conducted at the fair.

It may be mentioned here that the Mamata Banerjee government had started the programme in 2016, with an objective to provide marketing support to small entrepreneurs and businessmen so that they can flourish in their business.

WBMDFC has been giving a platform to the youths for starting their business. People are seeking loans from the WBMDFC to set up small businesses as well.

A senior official said: "The career counselling sessions and job fair are aimed at helping youths with necessary guidance. A number of multinational companies have been invited to interact with job seekers. WBMDFC has relentlessly been working towards the upliftment of minorities by executing various schemes of loans and scholarships."

Many beneficiaries are starting their small scale businesses after availing the benefits of various schemes run by WBMDFC. However, the beneficiaries are facing difficulties sometime in marketing their products. The fair has been conceptualised so that the beneficiaries can be given a platform to promote their products.