“There is an urgent need for a new initiative for education – the ‘Right to Apprenticeship’ promised in the Nyay Patra of the Indian National Congress is the need of the hour,” Ramesh said. (Photo: PTI)
The Congress on Sunday alleged that the Modi government had worsened India’s “unemployment crisis” by decimating job-creating MSMEs through “Tughlak-esque demonetisation, a hasty GST and rising imports from China”.
In a statement, Congress General Secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh cited a new report by Citigroup, a global bank, which reported “alarming figures”, which he said confirmed what the Congress had said during the recent election campaign.
“The Indian National Congress has been sounding the alarm about India’s unemployment crisis for at least five years. The crisis has been exacerbated by the decimation of job-creating MSMEs due to Tughlakian demonetisation, a hastily implemented GST and rising imports from China,” Ramesh said.
“With his economic policies that favour only big conglomerates, the non-organic prime minister has created the highest unemployment rate in India in 45 years. The unemployment rate among college graduates stands at 42 per cent,” he said.
Ramesh highlighted the key points from the report, which stated that India needs to create 12 million jobs per year over the next 10 years to employ our youth.
“Even 7 percent GDP growth will not create enough jobs for our youth – under the non-organic PM’s government, we have had an average of only 5.8 percent GDP growth. The failed Modi economy is the root cause of the unemployment crisis,” Ramesh said.
“There are 10 lakh vacancies in the central government. This is not only a disgrace to our educated youth but also a hindrance to the functioning of our government,” he said.
Only 21 percent of India’s working population is in paid employment, lower than 24 percent before Covid, Ramesh said, citing a report.
“The recovery after Covid-19 has been a K-shaped one: the billionaire class has been the only one to benefit, while the path to the middle class on a steady salary has become increasingly narrow,” Ramesh claimed.
Real wages in rural areas are falling by 1 to 1.5 percent per year, he said, adding that Modi is making “India’s rural population poorer.”
The Citigroup report also shows that many of Modi’s “overhyped schemes” have not delivered any benefits in practice. Ramesh also offers suggestions for reforms.
Referring to the report, he claimed that Skill India is a complete failure with only 4.4 percent of young Indians having received any formal education.
“There is an urgent need for a new initiative for education. The ‘Right to Apprenticeship’ promised in the Nyay Patra initiative of the Indian National Congress is the need of the hour,” Ramesh said.
“The MUDRA and SVANIDHI jumlas have completely failed to provide credit to small businesses. A ‘massive reform’ is needed,” he said.
Indians working in low-paying service jobs are struggling and a ‘living wage’ law is necessary, he said.
Ramesh said the Congress’s guarantee of a national minimum wage of Rs 400 a day would be a good start.
“India should create more jobs in the construction sector. The government should launch a large-scale social housing programme,” he further said in his statement.
“The non-organic prime minister and his drumbeat economists have consistently attacked the idea of unemployment growth. The reality of what we have seen since 2014 is perhaps even higher growth in job losses,” Ramesh said in the statement.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been edited by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: 07 Jul 2024 | 15:46 IST