Flawed policies of Modi govt contributed to sorry state of employment: Cong

The Congress on Thursday alleged that ”flawed” policies of the Narendra Modi government in various sectors have contributed to the sorry state of employment in the country and this ”disastrous course” can be reversed only if the INDIA bloc comes to power.

Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh said that according to the recently released government data in the 2022-23 Periodic Labour Force Survey, the proportion of those forced to take up self-employment was at a record high at 57 per cent, up from 52 per cent five years ago. In a statement, he said that in 2018, when asked about spiralling unemployment in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ”as usual denied there was any problem, callously stating that even opening a pakora (fritters) shop counts as quality employment”. ”Tragically for the country, this is one promise PM Modi has delivered on,” he said.

The Congress leader said the proportion of regular wage workers has fallen from 24 per cent to 21 per cent, which is suggestive of widespread middle and lower-middle-class distress.

This is a reversal of the near-doubling of the share of salaried workers from 14 per cent (2004-05) to 23 per cent (2017-18) under the UPA, he said. ”The share of self-employed workers forced to make pakoras under the Modi government is today higher than it was in 2004-05,” Ramesh said, taking a swipe at the prime minister.

”In addition, self-employed workers are selling fewer pakoras — monthly income has fallen by 9.2 per cent over the past four quarters, from Rs 12,700 to Rs 11,600. Even for casual labourers in rural areas, per-day income has dropped by almost 5 per cent, from Rs 409 to Rs 388,” he said.

At the same time, the sales of luxury goods and cars are zooming, demonstrating the widening inequality, an issue that was repeatedly highlighted by Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the Congress leader said.

”The message for India’s workers is clear: you are on your own. Flawed Modi policies like demonetisation, a complex GST and a policy bias towards big, capital-intensive monopolies in every sector have contributed to this sorry state.

”The Indian dream of well-paying salaried jobs with the liberalisation of the economy in 1991 ended with the UPA in 2014. Only a future INDIA government can reverse this disastrous course,” Ramesh said.

The Congress has been attacking the Modi government on the issue of unemployment, claiming that it is at its highest in the last many years and is making it a poll issue, raising it at public rallies and programmes.