Chidambaram asks how economy is growing when unemployment rate at highest
New Delhi, Feb 1: Former finance minister P Chidambaram Friday raised doubts over the GDP figures, wondering how the economy is growing at 7 per cent when the unemployment rate was the highest in 45 years.
Taking a dig at the Centre, he claimed that when the government revised the GDP figures it did not realise that the unemployment figures also got revised.
Chidambaram's remark came ahead of the interim Budget on Friday.
The government Thursday said it has not finalised the survey on labour force which reportedly showed that the unemployment rate in the country hit a 45-year high of 6.1 per cent in 2017-18.
The National Sample Survey Office's (NSSO's) periodic labour force survey (PLFS), according to the Business Standard newspaper, states that unemployment was last this high in 1972-73. The unemployment rate was 2.2 per cent in 2011-12, it said.
"NITI Aayog vice-chairman asked 'How can a country grow at an average of 7% without employment?' That is exactly our question. With unemployment at a 45-year high, how can we believe that the economy is growing at 7 per cent," Chidambaram said on Twitter.
"Modi Government revises GDP growth figures upward. What government did not realise was that unemployment figure was also revised upwards," he tweeted.
On Thursday, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar, who had previously mounted a defence of lowering of UPA-era GDP growth rates, at a hurriedly called press conference said the report cited by the newspaper "is not finalised. It is a draft report".
The report generated a lot of controversy, with Congress President Rahul Gandhi saying the Modi government had promised two crore jobs, but five years later a "leaked job creation report card" has revealed a "national disaster".
Chidambaram also took a swipe at the government over claims of high growth despite demonetisation and asked if this time Rs 100 notes would be demonetised.
"The demonetisation year was the best year of growth (8.2%) under Mr Modi. So, let's have another round of demonetisation.This time let's demonetise 100 rupee notes," he said.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
