New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday alleged that the Narendra Modi government has further aggravated the unemployment crisis in India by arbitrary demonetisation and the hasty implementation of the GST. The Congress also said the government has also ruined micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which were the main source of job creation, due to rising imports from China. Congress general secretary and communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh in a statement cited a new report by global bank Citigroup. Ramesh said some shocking statistics have emerged which confirm what the Congress said during the recent election campaign.
MSME has completely collapsed- Ramesh
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said that the Congress has been continuously expressing concern over the unemployment crisis. This crisis has increased due to arbitrary demonetization, hastily implemented GST and the complete collapse of employment generating MSMEs due to increasing imports from China. He sarcastically said that the non-organic Prime Minister has pushed the unemployment rate to a 45-year high by making economic policies that benefit only big business groups. In this, the unemployment rate among graduate youth is 42 percent.
satire on unemployment
Ramesh shared the highlights of the report, which said that India must create 1.2 crore jobs per year for the next 10 years to employ its youth. Ramesh said that even seven per cent GDP growth will not create enough jobs for our youth. Under the government of the 'non-organic' Prime Minister, the country has achieved an average GDP growth rate of only 5.8 per cent. The complete failure of the Modi government in the field of economy is the root cause of the unemployment crisis.
He said there are 10 lakh vacancies in various central government departments, which are not only mocking our educated youth but also hampering the functioning of the government. Citing a report, the Congress leader said only 21 per cent of India's labour force has a regular salaried job, which is 24 per cent less than the pre-Covid period. “The only beneficiary in the post-Covid recovery has been the billionaire class. Meanwhile, avenues are closing for the salaried middle class,” Ramesh claimed.
Accused of making rural Indians poor
Accusing Modi of impoverishing rural Indians, the Congress leader said real wages in rural areas were declining by 1-1.5 per cent every year. Ramesh said the Citigroup report also found that much-hyped government schemes had not delivered any benefits at the ground level and suggested ways to improve them.
Citing the report, he claimed that the 'Skill India' scheme has completely failed. Only 4.4 percent of the youth have any kind of formal training. Ramesh said that a new initiative for skill development is desperately needed. The promise of the right to apprenticeship in the Congress manifesto is really the need of the hour. He said that slogans like Mudra and Swanidhi have completely failed in giving loans to small businessmen. These need major reforms.
