PM Modi's birthday: Why is #NationalUnemploymentDay trending on Twitter?

While a week-long Seva Saptah has been organised by the BJP party workers starting from September 14 to September 20 to honour Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday, twitterati took it upon themselves to mark the day as the National Unemployment Day.

The hashtag 'Rashtriya Berojgar Diwas' or National Unemployment Day is currently trending on Twitter, here’s why:

The National Statistical Office (NSO) reported that India's April-June quarter GDP contracted by 23.9 per cent. This is the first major contraction in 40 years. As the unemployment rate keeps increasing in India, day-after-day, the youth of the nation demanded various employment reforms throughout the week.

A Mint report pointed out that rural unemployment has increased and reached 7.65 per cent in August compared to 6.66 per cent recorded in July.

The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the pre-existing inequities in urban India and has left the "lockdown generation" with lower employment rates, according to a London School of Economics report.

Read: Congress marks PM Narendra Modi's birthday as 'National Unemployment Day'

According to the report, workers in the bottom half of pre-COVID labour income group suffered bigger income losses than the top half following the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

The report surveyed 8,500 workers aged 18 to 40 in urban India to understand their experiences at work during Covid-19. The survey was conducted between May and July 2020.

Terming the week as the Rashtriya Berojgar Saptah, which is on September 17, Indian youth have been using the National Unemployment Day hashtag more than ever.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has also taken a dig at the Centre and has tweeted about the same using the trending hashtag.

Here are some of them:

Moody's Investors Service on Friday said India's economy is expected to contract for the first time in more than four decades saying economic damage owing to the coronavirus-induced lockdown will be significant with lower consumption and sluggish business activity.

The government's Rs 20.97 lakh crore Covid-19 package lacks in addressing immediate concerns of the economy as the actual fiscal impact of the additional stimulus is only about 1 per cent of GDP as opposed to the claim of 10 per cent, Fitch Solutions said.