‘Modi-made jobs famine’ height of ‘anyay kaal’ of last 10 years: Cong

PTI, Feb 4, 2024, 4:35 PM IST

The Congress on Sunday attacked the government over the issue of unemployment, alleging that Prime Minister ”Modi-made jobs famine” is the height of the ”anyay kaal” of the last 10 years.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh cited an analysis of long-term trends in job creation in the Indian labour market to attack the government.

In a post on X, Ramesh said that during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Rahul Gandhi has been consistently highlighting the urgency of ”Yuva Nyay (justice for the youth)”.

”The jobs famine in the country has been caused by the Modani-karan (Modani-sation) of the economy,” he said.

Now, a new analysis of India’s unemployment crisis ”exposes” the unemployment crisis of the last 10 years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he claimed. Ramesh said it comes from one of the world’s leading economists, a professor at the London School of Economics.

”Compared to 10 years ago, less people are working, the youth are worst affected, and jobs are paying much less,” he said.

Citing the analysis, Ramesh claimed that the percentage of Indians who have jobs is still lower than it was 10 years ago. ”Youth unemployment rate reached a peak under the Modi government, and today at above eight per cent, is much higher than the four per cent it was 10 years ago,” he said.

Ramesh further said that for the first time in more than 30 years, Prime Minister Modi has managed to decrease the share of workers getting a salary.

”It had been rising continuously from 15 per cent to almost 25 per cent under the previous government but has now come all the way back down to 22 per cent,” he said.

”Even for the lucky few with jobs, after taking away the effect of price rise, earnings have not increased at all under the Modi government. Salaried workers’ earnings are 12 per cent lower than (what was) five years ago, while rural labourers’ earnings are 5 per cent lower,” Ramesh claimed.

Meanwhile, the prime pinister is handing India’s resources away to his ”crony industrialist friends”, while stealing the future of India’s youth, he alleged.

”Today, the top 20 companies make 90 per cent of profits, while all the lakhs of other companies in India are left with just 10 per cent of profits. In 2014, the market was much more fair –” the top 20 companies made 40 per cent of profits,” he said.

Adani was the 609th richest person in the world in 2014, with USD 8 billion in net worth, Ramesh said.

”However, with 10 years of ‘Modi magic’, his wealth grew 10 times to USD 80 billion, and he became the world’s second richest person. The prime minister generously gifted Adani six airports, power plants, gas pipelines, and now Dharavi in Mumbai,” he alleged.

Even making weapons for our armed forces has been handed over to ”the PM’s best friend”, Ramesh claimed. ”How many jobs has this created? Very less,” he added.

In 2019, the Modi government cut corporate taxes by 25 per cent, leading to a loss of over Rs 1 lakh crore per year, the Congress leader alleged.

”Rs 14.5 lakh crore in bank loans have been waived off. All these lakhs of crores rightfully belong to the people of India, to spend on schools and hospitals, for secure government jobs, but it has been handed over to PM Modi’s friends,” he alleged.

”India’s Modi-made jobs famine as a result of Modani-karan of the economy is the height of ANYAY-KAAL of the last 10 years,” Ramesh said in his post.

The Congress has been attacking the government over its handling of the economy and raising concerns over ”increasing” unemployment and price rise.