Days after the Narendra Modi government held a rozgar mela to give away appointment letters for government jobs, the Congress on Thursday attacked it over the issue of unemployment. The party alleged that the Modi government had crushed the hopes and dreams of India’s youth and that was leading to increasing cases of suicides.
In a statement, party general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh alleged that the Modi government might want to “manipulate” the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data to hide information on suicides.
“Instead of dealing with the crisis of demographic dividend turning into a demographic disaster, we should not be surprised if the Modi government’s next move is to manipulate the NCRB data due for 2022 to hide the alarming suicide rate among the youth,” Mr. Ramesh said.
The Congress leader cited the recent interactions of Rahul Gandhi with railway porters at the Anand Vihar terminal where Mr. Gandhi noted that large numbers of educated youth, including those with engineering degrees, were unable to find formal employment and were forced into precarious informal jobs such as porters.
EPFO data
Mr. Ramesh said unemployment as well as the hidden under-employment remained a severe problem in India. The Congress leader claimed that data from the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) for 2021-22 showed formal sector employment was 5.3% lower than it was in 2019-20. The number of formal employers also declined by a 10.5% between 2019-20 and 2021-22.
According to a report from Azim Premji University, Mr. Ramesh said, 42% of graduates under 25 were unemployed in 2021-22. Jobs in manufacturing dropped 31% between 2016-17 and March 2023, according to Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) data.
Quoting the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for January-March 2023, Mr. Ramesh said even in urban areas, less than 50% of workers were salaried. “Instead, self-employment and casual employment have risen. These numbers show that the unplanned lockdown, in combination with disastrous economic policies and the cronyism of the Modi government, have actually shrunk formal employment opportunities for educated youth,” the Congress leader said.
Mr. Ramesh alleged that the Prime Minister personally holds rozgar melas, making a “complete mockery” of routine government functioning, to cover up its failures in providing employment.
The Congress’ latest attack on the Modi government comes just days after Mr. Gandhi, as part of his Bharat Jodo Yatra outreach, met with railway coolies to understand their problems. On Thursday as well, the former Congress chief visited a furniture market in Kirti Nagar area of west Delhi and interacted with carpenters and other workmen.
