'Jobless growth': Congress slams govt over 'accentuated unemployment crisis'

New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday alleged that the Modi government had accentuated India's "unemployment crisis" with the decimation of job-creating MSMEs through the "Tughlakian demonetisation, a hastily rushed 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, to flag "alarming numbers", which he claimed confirmed what the Congress stated throughout the recent election campaign.

"The Indian National Congress has been sounding the alarm on India's unemployment crisis for the past five years at least. The crisis has been accentuated with the decimation of job-creating MSMEs through the 'Tughlakian demonetisation, a hastily rushed through GST, and rising imports from China," Ramesh said.

"With his economic policies that favour only large conglomerates, the non-biological prime minister has created India's highest unemployment rate in 45 years, with the unemployment rate for graduate youth at 42 per cent," he said.

Ramesh shared highlights of the report which stated that India must create 1.2 crore jobs per year for the next 10 years to employ our youth.

"Even 7 per cent GDP growth will not create enough jobs for our youth - under the non-biological PM's government, we have averaged just 5.8 per cent GDP growth. The failing Modi economy is the root cause of the unemployment crisis," Ramesh said.

"There are 10 lakh central government job vacancies - which is not just a travesty for our educated youth, but a constraint on our government's functioning," he said.

Only 21 per cent of India's labour force has a salaried job, lower than the 24 per cent pre-Covid, Ramesh said, citing a report.

"The post-Covid recovery has been K-shaped - the billionaire class has been the only beneficiary, even as the road to the salaried middle class is disappearing," Ramesh claimed.

Real wages in rural areas are decreasing by 1-1.5 per cent per year, he said, alleging that "Modi is making rural Indians poorer".

The Citigroup report also finds that many "overhyped Modi schemes" have delivered absolutely no benefits on the ground, and provides suggestions for reform, Ramesh said.

Citing the report, he claimed that Skill India has been a complete failure with only 4.4 per cent of young Indians having any formal training.

"A new skilling initiative is desperately required - the Right to Apprenticeship' promised in the Indian National Congress's Nyay Patra is the need of the hour," Ramesh said.

"The MUDRA and SVANIDHI jumlas have completely failed to deliver credit to small businesses, and a 'large-scale revamp' is required," he said.

Indians working in low-wage service jobs are suffering, and a "living wage" law is a necessity, he said Ramesh said the Congress's guarantee of a national minimum wage of Rs 400/day would be a good start.

"India should be creating more jobs in the construction sector. The government should initiate a large-scale social housing programme," he further said in his statement.

"The non-biological PM and his drumbeating economists have consistently attacked the idea of jobless growth. The reality of what we have seen since 2014 is perhaps even more stark jobloss growth," Ramesh said in the statement.