Government depts told to compile jobs data

New Delhi: Coming under criticism from several quarters over the lack of adequate job creation, the Narendra Modi government is seeking to compile data on jobs created by it in the past four years to establish concrete statistics that will be put before the nation this Independence Day.

Sources said that after the PMO’s intervention, the information and broadcasting ministry has sent a missive to all departments and ministries seeking figures on the number of jobs created by each of them. The letter, by I&B secretary Amit Khare, was addressed to secretaries of all government ministries and departments and aims to clear doubts over the employment data.

This exercise is important as the country heads for Lok Sabha polls in less than a year and the data will prove to be crucial to reach out to the masses. The employment data is expected to be widely quoted by the BJP during the campaign for the parliamentary election as well as the forthcoming Assembly polls in several states.

It is learnt that the ministries were asked to compile a detailed study of the number of jobs created during the four years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure. Once collated, the employment data is likely to be presented before the people to establish that the policies of the Modi government have had a positive impact on the nation’s economy, sources said.

By presenting these employment figures, the government hopes to show that its various “people-friendly” schemes like Mudra Yojana, Stand Up India, Skill Development Initiative, Start-up India and Make in India had a far-reaching impact on the country’s employment scenario.

The new attempt to compile the employment data comes after the Modi government faced severe criticism as the data provided by the Niti Aayog and other government departments are being rejected by the Opposition. A wider NSSO survey is also being done, but its statistics are likely to be available only next year. The compilation of employment figures by the I&B ministry is likely to be published in a special volume to be brought out by the government on Independence Day.