Opposition claims on lack of jobs are hollow and misleading, says Anurag Thakur

Union Minister Anurag Thakur refutes job scarcity claims, highlighting over 50 crore person years of employment under Modi government.

Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday termed the allegations of the INDIA bloc on insufficient jobs as “misleading and hollow”. Citing a report recently released by SKOCH Group, the Minister underscored that credit-led employment and Central government schemes-led employment had added more than 50 crore person years of employment during the decade that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been at the helm since 2014.

“The so-called Opposition alliance, which is no more than a rag-tag coalition of incompatible parties, is seeking to mislead people on jobs for petty electoral reasons,” Mr. Thakur said in a statement here.

The SKOCH report said that 5.14 crore person years of employment have been generated every year since 2014.

“In the first four phases of the Lok Sabha election, the voters have already given their thumbs-up for the track record of the Modi government on both social and infrastructure development. This report shows why the masses are not buying into the Opposition’s propaganda,” Mr. Thakur said.

“The Opposition tried to spread the canard that there has been no reduction in poverty. But data-based studies of international organisations like IMF and World Bank show there has been massive reduction in absolute poverty numbers during the Modi decade, compared to the previous UPA decade of decay,” he said, adding, “During Congress-led UPA rule, corruption used to be banner headlines. The Modi government’s unprecedented thrust on development makes headlines. That’s the key difference.”

Elaborating on the SKOCH report, Mr. Thakur said data showed that of the 51.40 crore person years of employment created, more than a third — 19.79 crore, were due to various policies and programmes of the government. The 31.61 crore person years of employment that are credit-linked flowed from the government’s inclusive approach, he said, highlighting schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Swachh Bharat Mission, Gram Sadak Yojana, Skill Development Scheme and PM Swanidhi.

The Minister said, “The appeasement and vote bank politics are not working in the favour of INDI alliance. The Congress has sullied its face by promising to impose inheritance tax and distribute it to their vote bank. This has cost them dearly in the first four phases. Now I wonder how will the INDI alliance leaders spend their next 15 days of election campaign.”