New Delhi: Days after forming new government at the Centre, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday formed two cabinet committees in order to check the declining growth of employment and spur demand as well as consumption. Government sources said both the panels, respectively on Investment and Growth and on Employment and Skill Development, will be headed by the prime minister. The decision by Modi government to set up two cabinet comes after reports of 5-year low GDP growth and a 45-year high unemployment rate of 6.1 per cent made headlines last weak.

It is perhaps for the first time that the Cabinet committees on the two issues have been set up. A formal notification by the Cabinet Secretariat would be issued by Thursday.

The Cabinet Committee on Employment and Skill Development will include, besides Shah, Sithataman and Goyal, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Skill Development M N Pandey, Labour Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar and Housing and Urban Development Minister Hardip Puri. News agency PTI quoted government sources as saying that there is a provision in Transaction of Business Rules to form Cabinet panels on various issues but the prime minister had not set up any such panel during his previous term.

According to the government data released on May 31, India's GDP growth for the January-March (Q4) quarter slowed to 5.8 per cent from 6.6 per cent in the previous (October-December) quarter. This is the slowest GDP growth rate in five years on the back of poor performance in agricultural and manufacturing sectors. Even country's unemployment rate rose to 6.1 per cent in 2017-18 fiscal year, according to data released by the statistics ministry. Confirming unemployment rate projected in a pre-election leaked report, the government said joblessness in the country was 6.1 per cent of total labour force during 2017-18, the highest in 45 years.

During the electioneering of the last Lok Sabha polls, the Opposition has fiercely targeted the Modi government, accusing it of having failed in keeping up its purported promise of creating two crore jobs per year. The opposition had also targeted the government, claiming slow down of economy.