Post-Election: Unemployment Pulls BJP Down
STORIES, ANALYSES, EXPERT VIEWS
The Indian economy requires 25 million-plus jobs to be generated over the next five years in order to employ all those who are presently unemployed in this nation.
As against this, the government, writes Subramanian Swamy (former Union Minister of Commerce and Law and Justice) “has not created an adequate number of appropriate jobs going by the current unemployment in India……Using the latest official statistics, the unemployment rate for people aged 15 years or above may have dipped from 4.2% in 2021 to 3.1% in 2023, but this is not commensurate with the rapid GDP growth rate of 8%.”
The results of the 2024 general election make it clear that the BJP “has paid the price.”
Prime Minister Modi has claimed that the economy has lifted 25 crore people out of poverty (by investing heavily in capital expenditure) Government economists also claim that the Modi government has succeeded in establishing sustained and fast-paced economic growth, making people happy. “This remains to be seen in the next three years,” writes Swamy. “The BJP government’s economic management needs to be overhauled…..”
Need for next generation of reforms
The need is for the 'next generation of reforms’ to accelerate national economic growth. “It remains to be seen if this is possible as the BJP has lost its majority in Parliament and its allies do not have the same economic perspective as the BJP.”
Moreover, “in agriculture, 92% of the jobs are in the unorganised sector. In industry and services, 73% of the jobs created are in the small- and medium-informal sections. The government and formal private sector account for a mere 27% of jobs. Thus, India now needs a new long-term economic strategy….”
