Joblessness is the defining issue of Lok Sabha election, says Congress
Congress says it has a concrete plan to tackle unemployment, which will be revealed in its poll manifesto; PM promised 20 crore jobs in 10 years, but has snatched 12 crore jobs from youth, says Kharge; wages have declined since 2012, says Ramesh
The Congress on Wednesday claimed that India was sitting on a “ticking bomb” of joblessness and asserted that unemployment would be the defining issue of the upcoming Lok Sabha election despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attempt to “distort, distract and divert” from it.
From Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, several Congress leaders asserted that their party had a concrete plan to deal with unemployment. They were speaking a day after Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran said it was incorrect to think that government intervention could solve every social and economic challenge, such as unemployment.
Citing the India Employment Report2024, released by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Institute of Human Development (IHD), Mr. Kharge said that before
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge along with Sonia Gandhi and K.C. Venugopal during a party meeting on Wednesday.
casting their votes, people should remember that the Prime Minister had “promised to provide 20 crore jobs in 10 years but snatched more than 12 crore jobs from the youth”.
‘Ticking bomb’
“Our youth are bearing the brunt of Modi government’s pathetic apathy, as everrising unemployment has destroyed their future. ILO & IHD Report conclusively says that the unemployment problem is grim in India. They are conservative, we are sitting on a ‘ticking bomb’ of joblessness!” the Congress chief said in a post on X. “But the Modi government’s
Chief Economic Adviser protects the dear leader, by saying ‘government can’t solve all social, economic problems such as unemployment’,” he added.
The ILO report said that 83% of jobless Indians were youth and only 17.5% of the youth in rural areas were engaged in regular work, Mr. Kharge said. “Share of people employed in industry and manufacturing has remained the same since 2012 at 26% of the total workforce. The percentage of youth involved in economic activities decreased from 42% in 2012 to 37% by 2022,” he said, quoting from the report. Compared to 2012, youth unemployment had tripled under the Modi government, he claimed, adding, “That is why the Congress has brought in Yuva Nyay or justice for youth.” The Congress chief reiterated the party’s promises to fill up nearly 30 lakh vacant Union government posts, to enact a law on the right to apprenticeship for degree, diploma holders that will offer a stipend of ₹1 lakh per year, and to ensure social security for gig economy workers, among others.
‘Concrete plan’
On X, Mr. Chidambaram claimed that the Chief Economic Adviser had made a “shocking” statement about the government not being able to solve the problem of unemployment.
“If that is the official stand of the BJP government, we must boldly tell the BJP ‘Vacate your seat. The Congress has a concrete plan to tackle the issue of unemployment and it will be revealed in its Manifesto’,” Mr. Chidambaram said.
In a statement, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the India Employment Report 2024 presented “some extremely concerning” facts on the country’s labour market over the past 10 years.
“Each year, around 7080 lakh youth are added to the labour force, but between 2012 and 2019, there was almost zero growth in employment — just 0.01%! In 2022, unemployment was very high among the urban youth (17.2%) as well as rural youth (10.6%),” Mr. Ramesh said, adding that the unemployment rate among women in urban areas was extremely high at 21.6%.
Mr. Ramesh said nearly one in three youth with graduate degrees (29.1%) was unemployed and only 20% of the 1,25,000 establishments registered on the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme portal actually offered apprenticeships. He added that real wages of regular workers had declined between 2012 and 2022, inflation was uncontrolled, and workers could now afford less than what they could 10 years ago.
The seatsharing talks between the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) are headed towards resolution, and an announcement is likely on Thursday.
According to the sources, the RJD has agreed to concede nine Lok Sabha seats in Bihar to the Congress, excluding Purnia, which the latter wanted for Rajesh Ranjan, alias Pappu Yadav, who merged his Jan Adhikar Party recently with the Congress. In an exchange, the RJD is likely to concede Katihar to the Congress.
Confirming the positive development, Congress State president Akhilesh Prasad Singh said, “We have finalised a seatsharing formula, and an announcement will be made soon.”
Meeting in capital
RJD leader and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav has been in the capital for the past few days to sort out the differences.
The Katihar Lok Sabha seat is another seat where the two INDIA bloc allies are at loggerheads. The RJD wants it for its former