NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday constituted two high-powered ministerial committees to spur economic growth and create new employment opportunities.
He will head both the panels. While the Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth has five top ministers, the Cabinet Committee on Employment and Skill Development comprises 10 members.
The panel on growth consists of heavyweights like Home Minister Amit Shah, Road Transport and Highways and MSMEs minister Nitin Gadkari, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Railways and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.
On the Cabinet committee on employment and skill development are Shah, Sitharaman, Goyal, Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar, HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Petroleum and Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Skill and Entrepreneurship Minister
Mahendra Nath Pandey and ministers of state Santosh Kumar Gangwar and Hardeep Singh Puri.
During its first tenure, Team Modi’s performance in managing the economy and job creation had appeared shaky, but voters didn’t seem to mind.
For example, data for the January-March quarter of the fiscal year 2018-19 showed the economy grew at a much slower-than-expected rate of 5.8%, compared with 6.4% in China.
It was the slowest growth rate in more than four years in the January-March period, falling behind China for the first time in nearly two years.
Data on employment released by the Ministry of Statistics last week showed the rate rose to 6.1% in the fiscal year 2017-18, a 45-year-high. The government, however, said since the data released by the National Sample Survey’s Office was based on a new design methodology, it was not comparable to previous data.