Govt says NSSO report citing high unemployment rate not final
New Delhi, Jan 31: Amid a raging controversy, the government Thursday said it has not finalised the survey on labour force which reportedly showed that 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.
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".
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 Thursday said the report cited by the newspaper "is not finalised. It is a draft report".
Refusing to comment on the content of the news report, he said the government will release its employment report by March after collating quarter-on-quarter data.
He also debunked claims of jobless growth, saying how can a country grow at an average of 7 per cent without generating employment.
Kumar also said it was incorrect to compare the PLFS data with earlier reports of the NSSO as their methodologies are different.
To a question on why Niti Aayog was holding a press conference on NSSO data, Kumar said Chief Statistician Pravin Srivastava is out of Delhi and could not be present.
He further said earlier the Central Statistics Office (CSO) was part of the erstwhile Planning Commission, and so "Niti Aayog and NSSO are not completely distinct".
Kumar also said as of now he could not conclusively say what was the unemployment rate in 2017-18.
Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, who too was present at the conference, said India is creating adequate number of jobs for new entrants, but "probably we are not creating high quality jobs".
Kant further said that Niti Aayog's estimate shows that the country is creating 7-7.8 million jobs every year and the nature of jobs is also changing.
Citing a report by the McKinsey Global Institute, Kant said a combination of increased government spending, additional IT hiring, and increase in entrepreneurship created gainful employment for 20-26 million people between 2014 and 2017.
The Niti Aayog CEO also said that according to a study based on data collected by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and the Tractor and Mechanization Association (TMA), over 14 million jobs have been created in the transport sector between 2014-2018.
Two members including the acting chairman of the National Statistical Commission (NSC) resigned this week, saying the government had not released the job numbers despite the commission's approval.
When asked what was the reason behind the resignation, Kumar said: "People resigning may have their own reasons. They have not contacted me, neither have I contacted them".
The NSSO report was based on data collected between July 2017 and June 2018 and is the first official survey post-demonetisation.
The news report further said that unemployment was higher in urban areas (7.8 per cent) as compared to 5.3 per cent in rural areas of the country.
Earlier, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) had stated that 1.5 million jobs were lost just in the first four months of 2017 immediately after demonetisation of old 500 and 1000 rupee notes.
The NSSO job report was previously planned to be released in December 2018.
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NIA raids multiple locations in J&K in Red Fort blast case
New Delhi/Srinagar (PTI): The National Investigation Agency on Monday conducted searches at various locations in Jammu and Kashmir in connection with its probe into the Red Fort car bomb blast case, officials said.
“The searches are being conducted at nine places in various locations of J-K,” an NIA spokesperson said.
The locations included the Handwara area of Kupwara district, Rafiabad in Baramullah district, and places in Kulgam and Srinagar districts, among others, the officials said.
At least 13 people were killed, and several others were injured in the blast near the Red Fort that shook the national capital on November 10 last year.
The blast was triggered by suicide bomber Umar Un Nabi, a medical doctor and assistant professor at Al Falah University in Faridabad, Haryana, who blew up an explosive-laden car he was driving outside the iconic monument.
The NIA has so far arrested 11 accused in the case.
