Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday claimed that the unemployment rate in India was double that of Pakistan, adding that this situation has been brought about by the poor financial policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which have resulted in the “destruction of small and medium enterprises in the country”.
Rahul Gandhi also said that India is even performing worse than Bhutan and Bangladesh on the economic and employment fronts.
Addressing the public in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior as part of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Rahul Gandhi said, “The country is facing injustice on many fronts. There is economic and social injustice. Farmers are facing injustice. Our country is facing the worst unemployment rate in the last 40 years. India’s unemployment rate is double that of Pakistan. 23 per cent of youth were unemployed in India and 12 per cent in Pakistan. Our unemployment rate is higher than in Bhutan and Bangladesh as well.”
“Our small and medium enterprises in the country have been destroyed due to due to PM Modi implementation of GST and demonetisation,” he added.
A World Bank report released in 2022 points out that the youth unemployment rate in India was at 23.22 per cent, which was higher than its neighbours Pakistan (11.3 per cent) and Bangladesh (12.9 per cent).
Slamming the BJP-led Centre for not taking immediate steps to carry out a caste census in the country, Rahul Gandhi said that ownership of businesses in many prominent sectors is not in the hands of backward classes and the government does not want this fact to come into the public domain.
“Caste census is the X-ray of India. No one should have a problem with it. They (BJP) don’t want the country to know the truth. In the private sector, look at the owners of hospitals and colleges. These owners will not be coming from backward classes. Look at the MGNREGA list and labourers’ data, there you will find adequate representation from backward classes,” he said. (ANI)
