KOCHI: The Central Government is trying to cover up the socio-economic situation of the country by giving false promises. Our country and public are going through a very grave situation,” said Shashi Tharoor, MP.
“Every economic indicator of our country has been performing disappointingly in recent times. We are at a record high in unemployment levels in the past 46 years. Be it exports, manufacturing or investment, every indicator is down. Automobile sector which provides large-scale employment opportunities in South India has laid off more than 10,000 employees in the past few months,” he said.
He was speaking on ‘Uncovering India’s socio-economic situation’ at the lecture series jointly organised by Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce Kerala (Injack) and Alumni Society of Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship (AOTS) at Kalamassery here on Saturday. Tharoor pointed out that agrarian crisis has become very severe. “Though the actual figures are covered up by the government, the number of farmers committing suicide has become so high. Earlier it was 31 farmers per day but it increased to 45 farmers per day on average. There is a deep human misery behind these numbers,” he said.
According to him, unemployment of Indian graduates is double than the national average of unemployment. “Current unemployment rates of Indian graduates are at 18.5 per cent which is double than the national average of 9.1 per cent. Forgetting their academic qualifications, they are applying for jobs which demand least credentials. As per the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) estimates, the unemployment rate in the age of 20-24 years is pegged at 37 per cent, out of which educated youths’ unemployment had risen to 60 per cent in 2019. It shows that two-thirds of the educated youths of the country don’t have a job today,” he said.
Former union minister came down heavily on the government’s economic policies, mainly demonetisation and Goods and Service Tax (GST). “When demonetisation was a bad idea implemented badly, GST was a good idea implemented badly. Within the six months of demonetisation, around 50,000 MSMEs were shut down in Tamil Nadu. It has also led to a sharp fall in consumer spending in the last four months. States like Kerala are yet to receive their dividends in GST and the Centre is putting stringent borrowing measures too,” said Tharoor.
He criticised the Centre’s policies on economic and political fronts. ”Our official figures are facing a large credibility crisis. It causes immense damage to the country’s image globally. Sadly, no deliberations are taking place between the opposition or within the cabinet. The public is misled by the divisive campaign,” he added.