A few weeks ago, the Reserve Bank of India published an article on the economy. The authors claimed that eight crore jobs had been created in India in the last few years and that “there is no job crisis in India”.
It was an astounding statement, especially from a cautious, conservation and politically neutral institution like RBI. The claim was lapped up by BJP leaders, including the Prime Minister who mentioned it in his speeches.
The finance minister was silent. The chief economic advisor looked away. The Niti aayog, that sprang up to make bizarre claims, did not make any comment. No one asked the RBI questions such as how the claim was made, what kind of jobs were created, where were the jobs and who were beneficiaries..
The RBI’s claim and the government’s tacit endorsement ran contrary to evidence around us:
The Uttar Pradesh Police department conducted an examination to recruit 60,244 persons in the state police, mostly constables. More than 48,00,000 persons including 16,00,000 women wrote the examination (the examination was cancelled after a few days).
Air India wanted to fill 2,216 vacancies of ‘handyman’, a job that involved diverse repair and maintenance duties. Some 25000 persons thronged the Mumbai airport for a walk-in interviews, and police had to step in to maintain order..A private company in Gujarat sought to fill five positions. More than 1,000 persons applied.
Madhya Pradesh advertised for 15 low skilled government jobs. It attracted 11,000 applicants, many of whom were post graduates, engineers, MBAs and even one who was preparing to write an examination for the post of a judge.
The job crisis is best illustrated by the examination conducted every year by the Staff Selection Commissions at the Centre and in many states.
Unemployment is, and has been for many years, a serious problem in India. Past Government acknowledged the problem. The BJP was different: it flatly denied there was a problem. On the eve of the 2014 elections to Lok Sabha, Narendra Modi promised to create two crore jobs a year. The promise, among other promises, was described as a Jumla by no less a person than Home Minister. At one point, the Prime Minister said that “frying pakoras is also a job”. (IPA Service)