Congress slams Modi government over ‘statistical jugglery’ in unemployment issue

New Delhi: The Congress stated on Sunday that the unemployment rate is the highest it has been in the past forty years and accused the Modi government of engaging in "statistical jugglery" concerning the problem.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said a Union Minister recently criticised the ILO's Employment Report as a symptom of India's "slave mentality." "Instead, he made the absurd claim of having added 52 million new formal jobs between FY20 and FY23 based on EPFO, ESI, and National Pension Scheme da tabase," he said.

Ramesh's remarks were a reference to the reported comments by Union minister Anurag Thakur at a media conclave last week when he said that India has been relying on international rating agencies for years, but it should now go by the data from domestic ones, which are now equally reliable.

"Whatever statistical jugglery they engage in to cover it up, the truth remains: the unemployment rate today is the highest it has been in the last four decades," Ramesh contended.

He also shared a media report stating that the government's assertion of generating 52 million new formal jobs in the past four years is "misleading".

[With inputs from PTI]