"We are the youngest country with 65 percent of our population below 35 years of age. We are the world's largest democracy and we have a huge domestic market to feed. No country has such an opportunity as India to create jobs with human capital and abundant natural resource!"
- Narendra Modi
Today, India stands at a delicate yet deciding stage & the interventions done at this point of time will have a bearing on the future. However the demographic dividend, which can a boon for any country has been treated as a burden by the current UPA Government. If our nation has to progress, and if we wish to add wings to the aspirations of our youth, we need to create enough jobs to employ each & every youngster joining the work force.
A look at how the UPA Government fares in terms of job creation as compared to Atal ji led NDA Government as enough to realize the dismal performance of the UPA government on this front. While the NDA government created 6.07 crore jobs in 5 years of its rule, the UPA Government was able to create a paltry 1.54 crore jobs in 10 years of its rule.
Thus while the NDA Government created 1.2 crore jobs every year on an average, the UPA Government has managed to create just 15 lakh jobs each year. (the below image needs to reworked with average per year figures)
Experts &think-tanks across India & the world have repeated again & again stressed the scale & speed at which we need to create jobs. Even Sam Pitroda, an advisor to the Prime Minister said that we need to create 1.5 crore jobs annually. But sadly the UPA Government has floundered badly on this aspect.
A worrying aspect on this front is the abysmal growth in the manufacturing sector in India. Inspite of being home to a large amount of national resources & extremely skilled & hard-working manpower, the faulty policies of the UPA Government has brought manufacturing at a stand-still. Such policies of the UPA Government coupled with apathy towards agriculture have severely crippled the employment prospects of India’s youth.
One more testimony to the negligent attitude of the UPA Government towards generating employment opportunities is the lack of any initiative towards Skill Development.
In July 2008 they formed PM’s National Council on Skill Development + National Skill Development Coordination Board which was followed by no action For two and half years. In 2011 an advisor to PM was appointed for skill development. This was again followed by no action for two and half years. In 2013finally the Prime Minister passed the buck by forming a new National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) is formed which will subsume the earlier three offices.
While the Gujarat Government led by Shri Narendra Modi has carried out Skill Development initiatives in mission mode, UPA’s record on the same is pathetic to say the least.
Watch Shri Narendra Modi’s Vision for Skill Development:
On the other hand, Narendra Modi led Gujarat Government has repeatedly set an example when it comes to creating employment opportunities & providing employment. Recently a report from Goldman Sachs too noted that India would create a large number of jobs if it followed the Gujarat Model.
The fat that Gujarat has very low unemployment is a known fact, and it has been corroborated by a number of agencies. As per the NSS 68th Round All India Survey on Employment and Unemployment in India, published in June 2013 : Gujarat has the lowest unemployment rate in the country.
Even the “Report on Second Annual Employment & Unemployment Survey (2011-12)” published Labor Bureau in Chandigarh noted that: The unemployment rate is estimated to be 38 (per 1000 persons) at All India level while the unemployment rate is estimated to be 10 (per 1000 persons) in Gujarat, which is the lowest unemployment rate in the country.
Thus, now that we are facing a crisis on the job front, it is imperative that we make the right choices so that the youth get jobs & are able to dream & fulfil these dreams rather than languish in agony.
The options in front of us are clear, one leads us to a disaster with no jobs for our youth. The other option understands the importance of skill development & employment for the youth & has a proven a track record of performance on this front. That option is NARENDRA MODI.
