India's key opposition leader Rahul Gandhi launched another political attack on Tuesday against Narendra Modi's government over rising unemployment in the country.
The development came after a survey this month found that nearly 3.5 million Indians may have lost their job in November.
“The youth are jobless. The public suffers from inflation. Farmers are protesting against the laws that benefit the government's cronies,” said Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi in a tweet in Hindi.
युवा पर बेरोज़गारी की मार,
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) December 29, 2020
जनता पर महंगाई का अत्याचार,
किसान पर ‘मित्रों’ वाले क़ानूनों का वार,
यही है मोदी सरकार। pic.twitter.com/WbmI30Ru0B
Gandhi cited the findings made earlier this month by the New Delhi-based think-tank Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) which suggest that 3.5 million Indians lost their job in November, compared with 35,000 people who were made jobless in October.
The CMIE data, released as part of its Consumer Pyramids Household Survey, point out that although the unemployment rate significant improved between July and September compared with the preceding quarter (April to June), the situation is turning bad in the present economic quarter (October to December).
According to the premier Indian think-tank's findings, the country had nearly 68 million salaried employees in November this year, compared with 87 million salaried professionals last November.
Economists have said that the trend indicated that 21 out of every 100 Indians who had been working in salaried professions until last year had lost their job - ie, a drop of 21%.
The CMIE data puts into doubt the claim by the Prime Minister Modi-led federal government that the Indian economy has been experiencing a “V-shaped” economic recovery in the wake of unprecedented 23.9 percent quarterly drop in the Gross Domestic Product during the quarter from April to June, when India was in the middle of a strict COVID-induced lockdown.
Congress leader Gandhi has often criticised the Modi government’s ability to create enough employment for India’s growing youth population, having described the problem as a “ticking time bomb”, which will lead to mass protests if enough people can't get work.
