Modi's mantra is 'maximum promotion, minimum thinking': Ramesh

Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Jairam Ramesh on Saturday blamed Modi government for failing to generate enough employment opportunities in the country.

“In the past two years Modi government could generate less than four lakh jobs against its claim of over 2 crore jobs per annum. As per the Union government’s figures, only 1.50 lakh jobs were created in 2015 while two lakh in 2016,” Ramesh said on Saturday while addressing media persons in the city.

“The Modi government, that completes three years on May 16, can be best defined by the phrase, 'Adhiktam Prachar, Nyuntam Vichar'.” (maximum propaganda, minimum thought process).

He alleged that job growth had slackened as investment had dried up. He also hit out at Modi government for what he called poor track record in the field of agriculture and rural development.

“The Minimum Support Price (MSP) (of farm produce) grew at the slowest pace. MSP for paddy grew at 9 percent annually during the last three years of Manmohan Singh government’s tenure. This has shrunk to 3.4 percent per annum under the NDA rule,” he said.

"Procurement of wheat too has come down by 60 lakh tons in last two years. This has been compensated by imports. This is the Make in India in agricultre!".

Ramesh also again hit out at Modi government on the issue of demonetization of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denomination notes, saying that though the decision was announced on November 8, 2016, it has been six months and the Modi government is yet to divulge details on how much money was deposited in the banks.