JOIN USHow long will 'jumle-baazi' continue: Congress on announcement of recruitment of 10L people by govt
After reviewing the status of Human Resources in all departments and ministries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday instructed them to carry out the recruitment of 10 lakh people in a mission mode in the next 1.5 years.
“PM @narendramodi reviewed the status of Human Resources in all departments and ministries and instructed that recruitment of 10 lakh people be done by the Government in a mission mode in next 1.5 years,” the PMO tweeted on Tuesday after which a number of senior ministers posted that they have already begun the process to fill the pending vacancies in their respective departments.
The PMO’s announcement coincided with the defence ministry launching a new policy to recruit young soldiers for the army, air force and navy.
The main Opposition party Congress, however, took with a pinch of salt the announcement that came months before assembly polls in two BJP-ruled states Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat and major state polls in 2023, which will be kind of a semi-final before the 2024 general elections.
"As eight years ago the youth were deceived with a promise of 2 crore jobs every year, now it is the turn of 10 lakh government jobs. This is a government of not 'jumlas' (rhetoric) but 'maha jumlas'. The Prime Minister is an expert in not generating jobs but news reports on jobs,” former Congress President Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.
CPI-M said, “having miserably failed in his promise of crores of jobs every year with record-high unemployment, Modi now seeks to deflect criticism over his abysmal record by announcing 10 lakh recruitments in "mission mode" in the next year and a half!”
The announcement by the PMO comes in the backdrop of concerns raised in various quarters about the unemployment explosion and Opposition parties making the issue of employment generation nearly a campaign theme ahead of upcoming polls.
Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan recently flagged the high unemployment in the country as a “real danger” and felt this might create a situation of youths being exposed to political misuse. The Budget Session in Rajya Sabha this year had seen Opposition parties training guns on the government over the high unemployment rate and “poor” spending on job schemes.
The government seems to have gone into a damage control mode with a slew of announcements on the job front now. In poll-bound Himachal Pradesh on June 16 and 17, Modi will chair the first national conference of chief secretaries during which implementation of a common development agenda will be discussed.
While the Opposition dismissed the announcement, the BJP went gaga over the issue. Home Minister Amit Shah said Modi’s directive will bring new hope and confidence among the youth and that Home Ministry has already taken steps to fill up the vacancies in Mission Mode.
Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan promised that all vacant teaching and non-teaching posts in higher education institutions (HEIs), Kendriya Vidyalayas and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas will be filled at the earliest.
Shah also hailed the ‘Agneepath’ scheme of short-term contractual employment for soldiers saying it will provide youngsters with a wonderful opportunity to make a golden tomorrow for themselves and the country while party chief J P Nadda showcased it as the government's emphasis on job creation for the youth.
Young voters had played a crucial role in Modi’s historic victory in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Latching on to the issue of unemployment, the Opposition is hopeful of making a dent in the BJP’s youth vote bank while the ruling party is leaving no stone unturned to woo this segment.
“The foundation of new India is the youth power and Modi Ji is constantly attempting to strengthen this,” Shah said referring to the PM’s job recruitment announcement.
Congress this year launched two phases of mass agitation across the country on the issue of inflation and joblessness.