NEW DELHI: Minister of State for Labour and Employment Santosh K Gangwar set off a furore, Sunday when he said there was no dearth of jobs in the country, but recruiters visiting North India complain of few skilled people there.
“They say, there is a dearth of quality employable people in the north,” Gangwar said, referring to recruiters. “The issue of employment makes headlines these days. I am handling the labour and employment ministry and I examine the issue daily. I have understood the problem.”
The comments came amid criticism of the government over India’s unemployment rate rising to a 45-year high of 6.1 per cent in 2017-18, data of which was released in May.
Congress leader Priyanka Vadra reacted strongly, and said, “Mr Minister, it has been more than five years for your government. There is no job creation. Whatever jobs were there, they have been snatched due to the economic slowdown brought by the government. You want to escape by insulting North Indians.”
AAP leader Sanjay Singh accused the BJP of hiding the shortcomings of its government by saying that the youth is unemployed due to lack of merit.
“Gangwar says our youth is unemployed because they lack merit. It is just a way to hide the shortcomings of their government,” Singh said.
Gangwar later went into damage control mode and clarified that he meant that there was a lack of skills.
“What I said was in a different context that there was a lack of skills. It is exactly for this purpose that the government has opened a skill ministry so children can be trained as per job requirement,” he said.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said such comments are laughable.