The Congress on Wednesday attacked the Modi government over alleged "lapses" in its PM-DAKSH initiative for imparting skill training to eligible individuals, saying a government that cannot even effectively implement a scheme has no moral right to remain in power.
Taking a swipe at the PM, the opposition party also said that his government's "expiry date" is near and "jhola uthane ka waqt aa gaya hai".
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh shared a screenshot of a media report which claimed that "serious lapses" have come to light in the implementation of the 'Pradhan Mantri Dakshata aur Kushalta Sampann Hitgrahi' (PM-DAKSH) scheme, an initiative launched with the objective of imparting skill training to eligible individuals, including those from Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes, Economically Backward Classes, Denotified and Nomadic Tribes, and sanitation workers, to make them employable.
In his post in Hindi on X, Ramesh said, "'Naam bade aur darshan chote!' The scheme bears the PM's name, yet on the ground, the results are -- much like his claims -- a big, fat zero."
The Modi government has only one real agenda - grand advertisements, headline management, and zero actual delivery, he alleged.
The failure to implement the 'PM-Daksh' scheme for two years, coupled with the non-utilisation of the budget allocated in previous years, exposes yet another "major failure" of the Modi government, Ramesh said.
A scheme intended to provide skills, training, and employment opportunities to marginalised sections has been reduced by the Modi government to nothing more than paperwork, he claimed.
"A government that cannot even effectively implement a scheme -- one that bears the PM's own name and was launched with grand, lofty claims -- has no moral right to remain in power," Ramesh said.
"Modi-ji, your government has lost the trust of the people. Its expiry date is near; 'jhola uthane ka waqt aa gaya hai (it is time to pack your bags)'. How much longer will the Modi government continue to toy with the future of Gen-Z?" the Congress leader said.
Is the Modi government taking revenge on the Scheduled Castes, OBCs, the economically backward sections, and the denotified, nomadic, and semi-nomadic tribes for its reduction to just 240 seats in the 2024 elections, Ramesh asked.
The PM-DAKSH Yojana, a Central sector scheme, was launched during 2020-21. The focus of the programme is on providing high quality skills through good quality institutions so that the training can result in finding jobs or self-employment ventures for the target group. The target group of the scheme is SCs, OBCs, EWSs, denotified and nomadic tribes, 'safai karamcharis', including waste pickers etc.
(With inputs from PTI)