A Year of Rising Unemployment, Youth Opportunities Are Shrinking

Modi government claims that India’s economy is strong, the income of the countrymen is increasing and the employment rate is rising. But questioning that claim, consultancy CMIE said the country’s unemployment rate rose to 8.28% in August from July (6.28%). It has increased by 9.57 percent and 7.68 percent in urban and rural areas respectively. Taking the last 30-day average as of August 31, unemployment across the country was 8.3%, the highest in a year. 9.7% and 7.6 percent in cities and villages respectively.

There are even more worrying statistics. CMIE said that youth, the biggest source of economic growth, has seen a decline in job opportunities. Their employment rate fell to 10.4 percent last fiscal year, the lowest in five years. But in 2016-17 it was 20.9 percent.

Statement from Varun Gandhi 

Rising Unemployment
image source:https://cdn.downtoearth.org.in/library/large/2022-04-28/0.77135500_1651147485_istock-1222368314.jpg

After that, BJP MP Varun Gandhi opened his mouth to criticize the Centre. Said Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked government departments to fill 10 lakh vacant posts. But none of them could make a proper plan. His question on Twitter is, how long will the young men-women who are fighting forward wait?

Financial expert Anirban Dutta said the rush for jobs is increasing. But jobs are not increasing. Especially in the city. In what sense is the economy that does not provide income opportunities comfortable? He claimed, “Not being able to join work after education means wasting the productivity of educated people. The retirement age is 60 years. So, the delay in getting a job, the more the waste of productivity. Which is the most valuable resource of the country. If the job opportunities of the youth community decrease, the country’s GDP growth process will be beaten.”

IIT Patna economics professor Rajendra Paramanik agrees. He warned that the waste of human resources due to unemployment could eventually lead to social problems. Therefore, he advises the youth of a populous country like India to be self-reliant rather than just depending on jobs. They say that it is not important to acquire an educational degree but to spread education by practical means.

According to CMIE figures, unemployment rates also rose in several states last month. The labor market situation is particularly dire in Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, and Rajasthan. Unemployment has exceeded 30% there.

Diplomats plead for Chinese investment

Although trade in goods between India and China has increased, the pace of investment is quite slow. The investment of Chinese companies in India has rather decreased due to the leak of various conditions. In this context, China’s Consul General Zha Liu asked for more Chinese investment in the country for the expansion of bilateral trade.

In a meeting of the Merchant Chamber on Thursday and later the Chinese diplomat said that the bilateral trade between the two countries has increased by 42.3% to reach 12,566 million dollars in 2020-21. However, during the same period, China’s investment in India decreased by 68 percent to 6.30 billion dollars. He claimed that Chinese companies are not able to invest easily in this country because of India’s policies.