Union Labour Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar has said there is no scarcity of employment opportunities in the country, but recruiters visiting north India complain of lack of “quality people” to fill vacancies. The Minister statement has a strong criticism from opposition leaders who accused him of insulting people of the region.
The comments came amid criticism of the government over the unemployment rate rising to a 45-year high of 6.1% in 2017-18, data of which was released in May.
“The issue of employment keeps figuring in newspapers these days. I am handling the same ministry for labor and employment and examine the issue daily. I have understood the problem,” Mr. Gangwar told reporters on Saturday in Bareilly, his Lok Sabha constituency.
“Recruiters who visit north India complain of facing scarcity of quality people for the posts they need to fill,” he added.
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Priyanka charge
The Minister comments drew sharp reactions from the opposition with Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra saying the government was trying to escape blame for the job losses due to economic slowdown by such “insulting” comments.
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“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,” she said.
“Youth are looking towards the government hoping that it will do something good for them,” the Congress general secretary said.
‘Comments laughable’
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said such comments were laughable.
“After the different laughable statements by different Union Ministers on the serious issue of economic slowdown, instead of removing unemployment in the country now it is being said that there is no shortage of jobs, but of competence, especially amongst North Indians. This is extremely shameful and an apology should be tendered to the nation,” she tweeted.
