Top bureaucrats to counter Opposition's job jabs

New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government has decided to field the top babus of various ministries and government departments to counter the Opposition’s criticism over lack of adequate job creation over the four years since it was voted to power.

The secretaries of various ministries have been asked to write articles that will provide detailed overview regarding employment opportunities created by the government in their particular sector through concrete statistics.  

These articles will appear in a special edition of the government’s publication, Yojna, to mark this year’s Independence Day.   

The move follows intervention by the Prime Minister’s Office and a Union information and broadcasting ministry missive to all government departments and ministries seeking figures about the number of jobs created by them, which was first reported by this newspaper on July 10.  

While several Opposition leaders have been saying for a while that demonetisation, followed by GST affected job creation adversely. Recently, the Modi government came under particularly severe criticism after the Niti Aayog released employment statistics quoting the EPFO. Most Opposition parties rejected the government’s claims.

Jignesh Miwani, Independent MLA from Gujarat recently said that the government has been able to create only 7 lakh jobs though in 2014 the BJP had promised that they will create 2 crore jobs if voted to power.

Mr Modi, reacting to the Opposition’s escalating attack over unemployment, said in a recent interview to a magazine, “More than a lack of jobs, the issue is a lack of data on jobs. Our opponents will naturally exploit this opportunity to paint a picture of their choice and blame us.”  

Thus, the need for credible, non-partisan voices to dole out job statistics.

The articles by babus — essentially a sector-wise compilation of the number of jobs created during the four years of PM Modi’s government — are expected to be widely quoted by the BJP during campaigning for the forthcoming Assembly polls in several states and Lok Sabha polls in 2019.

The point of this unique initiative, probably the first of its kind when so many top bureaucrats will be publicly backing the government’s employment claims, is to impress upon people that the policies of the Modi government have had a positive impact on the nation’s economy.    

“By presenting these employment figures, the BJP government aims to establish that its various schemes, like the Mudra Yojna, Stand Up India, Skill Development initiative, Start up India and Make in India have had a far-reaching and positive impact on the employment scenario in the country,” a source said.