Beating religious drum not enough as unemployment rises

New Delhi issued a five-year pro-employment policy on Tuesday aimed at creating jobs and enhancing workers' skills. But critics of the Narendra Modi government and some observers warn this policy is far from enough to tackle the country's "largest challenge" due to the lack of input and the government's low executive power.

Instead of showing the Modi government's sincerity and ability to resolve the structural issue, they say that the policy only serves to expose its lack of concern for the well-being of the people.

Government data showed that India's unemployment rate was 3.2 percent in the 2022-23 fiscal year, and the youth unemployment rate fell to 10 percent from 17.8 percent in the 2017-18 fiscal year. However, many economists have expressed doubts about this data, believing that the actual situation is much worse than that.

More than 40 percent of India's 1.4 billion people are under the age of 25.That means millions of young workers enter the job market every year in the country. A key reason why not enough jobs are created in India is that a large portion of government resources are invested in capital-intensive sectors rather than labor-intensive industries, which are major job creators.

Although the National Democratic Alliance led by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party won more than half of the seats in the lower house of the Indian Parliament, the Lok Sabha, in June and won the general election, this is the first time in 10 years that the Bharatiya Janata Party has lost its majority in parliament. This means the foundation for the Modi government is not solid as it must rely on the support of other parties.

In his second term, Modi played the religious card and promoted the Hindu nationalist agenda, but this could not win back voters who were dissatisfied with the economy. In the first few years of Modi's promotion of the Hindu nationalist agenda, it did inspire more support from Hindus, but this could only arouse temporary excitement and emotions, and it has not satisfied the needs of ordinary people for food, clothing, housing and transportation.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, India's unemployment rate rose sharply, and the situation has not improved much since, as tens of millions of people have not achieved "reemployment "after returning to their rural home on losing their urban jobs.

The employment promotion plan shows that Modi is diverting more attention to economic issues. But as the BJP did not win more than half of the seats in the Lok Sabha, the implementation of its agenda and policies will necessarily be constrained by its allies.