MANGALURU: Dr Parakala Prabhakar, political economist and husband of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on Friday accused the Union government of suppressing data to divert issues from unemployment and economic crisis.
Delivering a talk, ‘Republic in Crisis’, organised by the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Foundation in Mangaluru on Republic Day at Tagore Park, he said, “The unemployment rate in India is highest in the world at 24% and similar situation is witnessed in Iran, Syria and Lebanon. Our neighbour Bangladesh fares better with just 12% of unemployed youth. In January 2022, over 1.25 crore youth applied for 35,000 non-technical posts in the Indian Railways and the situation turned chaotic and led to unrest in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh as unemployed youth gathered in huge numbers for the interview.”
He said, “The Union government is not providing data on unemployment and is suppressing it. Ironically, the Prime Minister has accurate data on how many times opposition party leaders have hurled abuses at him, that is 91 times, which he claimed during a roadshow in Karnataka prior to assembly polls.”
He added that governments must provide accurate data. On domestic investment in India, Dr Prabhakar said it has hit an all-time low to 5% compared to 30-40% in southern states.
He said, “Democracy will get affected when there is no resistance against fanaticism. Today, one religion is being portrayed as supreme in our democratic and secular country. Those who oppose them are being called anti-nationals, Khalistanis, Naxals etc. Such people who instill fear in the minds of the people and secular people who suddenly changed themselves into ‘bhakts’ and go on to even buy land at Ayodhya are dangerous for this country. In a democratic country, every citizen has a right to live freely and follow a religion of their choice. We need to protect the diversity of this land,” he urged.
Meanwhile, a book authored by Dr Prabhakar, ‘The Crooked Timber of New India’, was released by Valerian Rodrigues, retired professor, JNU, Delhi.
