Unemployment among educated youth big concern, says Manmohan

nNEWDELHI: Former prime minister and veteran Congress leader Manmohan Singh said it was “sad” and a “matter of shame” that despite being educated, youth in the national capital were not getting jobs as the unemployment rate was much higher than the country average.

He was addressing a public meeting in west Delhi’s Tilak Nagar, an assembly constituency with a sizeable population of Sikh community, to garner support for the Congress party ahead of the Delhi assembly polls on February 8.

Stating that he was not criticising any party, Singh maintained that he wanted to stress on key issues that have been bothering the youth.

“Over the past four months, the unemployment rate in Delhi grew to 15%, much higher than 7% in the rest of the country. It is a matter of shame that even qualified young people have to run around for jobs. The Congress is committed to improving the lot of Delhiites and will take concrete steps to bring down the unemployment rate,” Singh said.

The economist-turned-politician said the number of factory workers employed in Delhi has fallen significantly as compared to 2013-14.

“It was 75,273 back then and has come down to 68,630 at present,” said Singh, who was flanked by party candidates from Tilak Nagar and Rajouri Garden assembly seats— Raminder Singh Bamrah and Amandeep Singh Sudan.

Referring to the two as his “sons”, Singh urged people to help the Congress emerge victorious once again.

“Ye dono mere bête jaise hain (these two are like my sons). Please do give them a chance to work for you,” Singh said.

He also remembered former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit. Crediting Dikshit for changing the face of Delhi, Singh assured that if the party returned to power in Delhi, it would bring the same pace of development to the city.