May 26, 2017
Joblessness is not anywhere but in media reports, BJP national president Amit Shah said on Friday, rebutting allegations of growth of joblessness during the NDA government that has completed three years in office.
May 26, 2017
Joblessness is not anywhere but in media reports, BJP national president Amit Shah said on Friday, rebutting allegations of growth of joblessness during the NDA government that has completed three years in office.
Opposition parties have been targeting the Narendra Modi government citing official figures that showed a marginal increase in unemployment—from 4.9% in 2013-14 to 5% in 2015-16.
The latest Labour Bureau report shows 1.52 lakh casual labourers lost jobs during October-December 2016. Prime Minister Modi had announced the recall of high-value notes on November 8.
“It’s not possible to provide employment to everyone in the organised sector in a country of 125 crore people. We have, therefore, promoted swarojgar (self-employment),” Shah said at a press conference at the BJP headquarters to list the government’s achievements in the past three years.
While the BJP chief was stating a fact, it could draw criticism from the opposition parties that have sought to turn the tables on the BJP, which had targeted the previous UPA regime for jobless growth in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
These parties have got more ammunition, off late, with big corporate houses cutting jobs to protect their profit margins amid a slowdown in economic activities. L&T slashed 14,000 jobs, HDFC Bank 10,000, Tata Motors 1,500 and the IT sector close to 50,000.
In its 2014 manifesto, the BJP had slammed the then UPA government for, what it alleged, dragging the country through “10 years of jobless growth”.
Under the broader economic revival, the BJP will accord high priority to job creation and opportunities for entrepreneurship, stated the manifesto. It promised to develop “high impact domains” such as labour-intensive manufacturing and harness the opportunities provided by the upgradation of infrastructure and housing, for its job-generating potential.
It promised to encourage and empower our youth for self-employment – incubating entrepreneurship as well as facilitating credit.
Courtesy: PTI
