Ahead of the Parliament session that begins on July 22, the Congress brought unemployment back to the centre stage with party president Mallikarjun Kharge accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “rubbing salt into the wounds” of the youth with his claim that “eight crore new jobs” were created.
The Prime Minister emphasised last week that the creation of eight crore new jobs in the last three to four years had “silenced” those spreading fake narratives about unemployment. Mr. Modi was quoting from a recent report of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
‘What is the truth?’
In a post on X on Friday, Mr. Kharge said, “Narendra Modi ji, By telling one lie after another on jobs, you are rubbing salt into the wounds of the youth!” Mr. Kharge said the RBI data is questionable and at odds with other available sources. “According to the RBI report, there was an increase of 2.1 crore in employment between 2012 and 2019, but the International Labour Organization (ILO) report says that this increase is only two lakh. In fact, the main source of both reports is the government Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS). So what is the truth then,” he asked.
“Is it not true that according to the government PLFS data, the source of the RBI report, 37% of working women are unpaid,” Mr. Kharge asked. In rural areas, this figure is at a “horrifying” level of 43%, he said.
“Is it not true that according to the government’s own Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE), the informal manufacturing sector lost 54 lakh jobs in seven years due to the triple impact of demonetisation, flawed GST and COVID-19,” the Congress leader asked.
“Even if RBI data is to be believed, it is not a matter of joy that people like factory workers, teachers, small shopkeepers etc., who had gone to their villages due to the pandemic, are having to work as agricultural labourers. The RBI report shows that there are 2.3 crore such people who did not return to their regular jobs between 2019-20 and 2022-23,” Mr. Kharge noted.
It is not clear how the RBI arrived at its 2023-24 numbers, given that it did not reveal the sector-wise breakup, something it did in previous years, the Congress chief said. “Modi ji, stop hiding the promise of providing two crore jobs per year, by misusing RBI and publishing FAKE reports,” he wrote.
At a press conference earlier in the day, party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate underlined the various economic indices, to highlight the economic fault lines. “The reality is that 48% of Indian families are struggling with some or other kind of financial crisis. Incomes have gone down and savings are drying up,” Ms. Shrinate said. She said that the government’s “economic mismanagement” and “knee jerk” policy decisions such as demonetisation, faulty GST and inefficient management of the pandemic cost the economy ₹11.3 lakh crore and resulted in loss of 1.6 crore informal sector jobs.
“India has more inequality today than under British colonial rule. The ever widening gap between the super rich and the rest of India is frightening with the top 1% today controlling more than 40% wealth in the country,” Ms. Shrinate added.
