The Congress party countered the assertion of the Union government over its claims of generating eight crore new jobs on Monday. It accused the government of using "artful statistical manipulation" to make this claim while ignoring the "quality and conditions" of the employment created.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh remarked that India is currently facing a "severe Modi-made unemployment crisis," with thousands of young people competing for every available job. He hit out at Prime Minister Modi, labeling him as the "self-anointed non-biological PM," for responding with his typical 3D approach: denying, distracting, and distorting.
He stated that the government is claiming a booming job market based on new RBI estimates. "The self-appointed divinity himself has chimed in with the claim that the economy created 80 million jobs," Ramesh said, reported PTI.
However, he argued that these figures do not reflect the harsh economic realities under PM Modi's administration, characterised by weak private investment and sluggish consumption growth.
"The government has done some artful statistical jugglery to claim job-creation, by adopting a very expansive definition of employment, without paying attention to the quality and circumstances of employment: A large part of the claimed 'employment growth' is just recording unpaid household work done by women as 'employment'," Ramesh claimed.
"Amidst the poor economic climate, the share of salaried, formal employment in the labour market has decreased. Workers are moving to low-productivity informal and agricultural jobs – this is an economic tragedy," he further remarked.
But because the headline "80 million new jobs" ignores any conversation about the caliber of employment, the government celebrates the "creation" of these low-productivity, low-paying jobs as a triumph, he added.
"This deception is also why the RBI's data shows an increase in employment during the COVID-19 pandemic years when large sections of the economy fully shut down. While crucial sectors like education saw 12 lakh fewer jobs in 2020-2021, a whopping 1.8 crore 'jobs' were 'created' in agriculture," Ramesh further added.
Thus, factory workers, teachers, miners, etc. who returned home during the pandemic needed to do farming in their fields of family or as tenants for a richer farmer. This registered as a "job created" in agriculture, he argued. "This travesty is the non-biological Prime Minister’s economic legacy," the Congress leader said.
Congress Says Union Budget To Use RBI Data To Poortray 'Rosy Picture' Of Economy
The senior Congress leader said the forthcoming Budget will also undoubtedly make use of the RBI data to paint a rosy picture of the economy.
"The reality on the jobs front, however, is extremely grim – both because of mass unemployment and an abundance of low-quality employment. This dual tragedy will certainly get overlooked in the Budget speech next Tuesday," he also said.
The remarks of Congress leader Jairam Ramesh come after PM Modi on Saturday emphasised that the creation of 8 crore new jobs in the last 3-4 years has "silenced" those spreading rumours about unemployment.
Citing a recent report of RBI on employment figures, the prime minister stated that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government remains focused on stability and growth. He also mentioned that both small and large investors have shown enthusiasm for the NDA's third term.
During the event launching projects costing Rs 29,000 crore in road, railway, and port sectors, PM Modi also took a dig at opposition parties for "spreading misinformation" on job creation, marking them as obstacles to the growth.