PM Modi wants to fulfil poll pitch before 2019 elections; to examine job creation scenario

During campaigning for 2014 general elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Indian government had promised job creation and employment opportunities.

With just two years left for the term to get over, PM Modi now wants to fulfil the poll pitch and monitor the employment scenario in the country closely.

In this backdrop, Modi will review India’s job scenario on Sunday and frame a policy to silence critics who say GDP growth has not translated into higher employment.

Employment becomes an important concern for the ruling party as the previous Congress-led government had also suffered from the same charges.

The official data is seen to suffer from some shortcomings in terms of the sectors it covers, its mapping of the informal economy and whether there is a sufficient distinction between jobs and self-employment.

A government source told ET Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya is going to make a presentation to Modi on employment data.

A task force is also established by the government to assess the creation of jobs based on credible data.

Recently, Niti Aayog rejected the jobless growth criticism, arguing India has no credible job data to allow such conclusions. Panagariya said India will soon have new job data that should be able to help policy-makers get a better sense of the employment scenario.

Meanwhile, the Niti Aayog wants promotion of industries such as food processing, electronic assembly, leather products and textiles. It has also suggested special economic zones to push employment and attract domestic and foreign industry.