The NITI Aayog on Thursday said that an official report according to which unemployment rate in India was at a 45-year-high of 6.1% in 2017-’18 was not final and the data related to it was still under process.
Earlier, The National Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO’s) periodic labour force survey (PLFS), according to the Business Standard newspaper, states that unemployment was last this high in 1972-73.
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Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar, who had previously mounted a defence of lowering of UPA-era GDP growth rates, at a press conference Thursday said the report cited by the newspaper “is not finalised. It is a draft report”.
He also debunked claims of jobless growth, saying how can a country grow at an average of 7 per cent without employment.
Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, who too was present at the conference, said India is creating adequate number of jobs for new entrants, but “probably we are not creating high quality jobs”.
The NSSO report was based on data collected between July 2017 and June 2018 and is the first official survey post-demonetisation.
Earlier, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) had stated that 1.5 million jobs were lost just in the first four months of 2017 — immediately after demonetisation of old 500 and 1000 rupee notes.
Meanwhile, the Opposition has slammed the government after the unemployment figures surfaced. Congress President Rahul Gandhi tweeted:
NoMo Jobs!
The Fuhrer promised us 2 Cr jobs a year. 5 years later, his leaked job creation report card reveals a National Disaster.
Unemployment is at its highest in 45 yrs.
6.5 Cr youth are jobless in 2017-18 alone.
Time for NoMo2Go. #HowsTheJobs pic.twitter.com/nbX4iYmsiZ
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) January 31, 2019
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