Mr Gadkari, check your facts. Huge govt vacancies exist in educational, health, railways, police and other sectors

By Gautam Thaker*
According to Union Labour Ministry statistics, the situation of unemployment in India is worrisome. As per its report, every day, 550 jobs are being eliminated. By tht count, 12 crore people have been being sacrificed at the altar of unemployment.
And, as per International Labour Organization (ILO) data, during 2017, about 1.83 crore people were rendered jobless. Thereafter, in 2018, approximately 1.86 crore and in 2019 another 1.9 crore people are estimated to be rendered jobless in India.
In the course of the election campaign in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had offered, through lofty promises, lots of hopes for providing employment opportunities. He had asserted that every year one crore new jobs would be created, but he could not do so after becoming Prime Minister. He failed in honouring his promise to the youth of the country.
In fact, under his regime, unemployment is continuing to rise. In the wake of demonetization and Goods and Services Tax (GST), lakhs of people have been rendered jobless. Clearly, during his regime the problem of unemployment has not been resolved.
Nitin Gadkari, senior Cabinet minister of the Modi government, recently said, nothing would be achieved by chasing reservation. As a matter of fact, employment opportunities are declining. Where are the jobs? he asked. In further said, recruitment in government jobs has been discontinued.
Jobs cannot be created merely by tall talk of development and industrialization. In the banking sector, because of IT-enabled working systems, job opportunities have been reduced. Ironically, another Cabinet minister, Ram Vilas Paswan, says that statistics of unemployment are a cause of concern. This is the real picture of the Modi government. The Prime Minister is simply incapable in creating job opportunities.
Ministers of the Modi government have admitted that there are no jobs. But facts show otherwise. In the educational sector up to the secondary level 10 lakh vacancies exist. In higher education 12,000 are there. In police 5 lakh, in Railways 2 lakh, in health sector 1.5 lakh, in armed forces 1.25 lakh, and in judiciary 6,000 of posts are lying vacant. But the government has not pronounced reasons for not filling up the posts.
Looking at the situation prevailing in Gujarat, as per records available from district employment exchanges, highly educated, educated and semi-skilled persons have not been able to secure jobs in either government or private sector. As per the information tabled in Parliament during the assembly session in March 2018, the tall talk of providing government jobs to 70,000 persons in a year has not turned out to be a reality. During two years, just 12,869 persons have got jobs.
As on date, considering figures of all the employment exchanges in all the districts of Gujarat, approximately 5,37,563 persons are registered as jobless. Claims were made at the Vibrant Gujarat world business summits, organized by spending crores of rupees, for creating lakhs of jobs with the help of capital investment.

During the summits, it was announced in 2007 that 13,12,436 jobs would be created, followed by 2009 another 29,81,021 and 2011 an additional 60,00,000 jobs. As against this, 55,463 jobs were created after the Vibrant Gujarat summit of 2007, and 3,84,954 jobs after the summit of 2009.

This is the position of employment situation in the “model state” of Gujarat. Ironically, even 100 days employment is not provided under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in Gujarat.
---
*General secretary, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Gujarat

Comments

Grueling summer ahead: Cuttack’s alarming health trends and what they mean for Odisha

By Sudhansu R Das The preparation to face the summer should begin early in Odisha. People in the state endure long, grueling summer months starting from mid-February and extending until the end of October. This prolonged heat adversely affects productivity, causes deaths and diseases, and impacts agriculture, tourism and the unorganized sector. The social, economic and cultural life of the state remains severely disrupted during the peak heat months.

Stronger India–Russia partnership highlights a missed energy breakthrough

By N.S. Venkataraman* The recent visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India was widely publicized across several countries and has attracted significant global attention. The warmth with which Mr. Putin was received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was particularly noted, prompting policy planners worldwide to examine the implications of this cordial relationship for the global economy and political climate. India–Russia relations have stood on a strong foundation for decades and have consistently withstood geopolitical shifts. This is in marked contrast to India’s ties with the United States, which have experienced fluctuations under different U.S. administrations.

From natural farming to fair prices: Young entrepreneurs show a new path

By Bharat Dogra There have been frequent debates on agro-business companies not showing adequate concern for the livelihoods of small farmers. Farmers’ unions have often protested—generally with good reason—that while they do not receive fair returns despite high risks and hard work, corporate interests that merely process the crops produced by farmers earn disproportionately high profits. Hence, there is a growing demand for alternative models of agro-business development that demonstrate genuine commitment to protecting farmer livelihoods.

The Vande Mataram debate and the politics of manufactured controversy

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The recent Vande Mataram debate in Parliament was never meant to foster genuine dialogue. Each political party spoke past the other, addressing its own constituency, ensuring that clips went viral rather than contributing to meaningful deliberation. The objective was clear: to construct a Hindutva narrative ahead of the Bengal elections. Predictably, the Lok Sabha will likely expunge the opposition’s “controversial” remarks while retaining blatant inaccuracies voiced by ministers and ruling-party members. The BJP has mastered the art of inserting distortions into parliamentary records to provide them with a veneer of historical legitimacy.

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

The cost of being Indian: How inequality and market logic redefine rights

By Vikas Gupta We, the people of India, are engaged in a daily tryst—read: struggle—for basic human rights. For the seemingly well-to-do, the wish list includes constant water supply, clean air, safe roads, punctual public transportation, and crime-free neighbourhoods. For those further down the ladder, the struggle is starker: food that fills the stomach, water that doesn’t sicken, medicines that don’t kill, houses that don’t flood, habitats at safe distances from polluted streams or garbage piles, and exploitation-free environments in the public institutions they are compelled to navigate.

Why India must urgently strengthen its policies for an ageing population

By Bharat Dogra A quiet but far-reaching demographic transformation is reshaping much of the world. As life expectancy rises and birth rates fall, societies are witnessing a rapid increase in the proportion of older people. This shift has profound implications for public policy, and the need to strengthen frameworks for healthy and secure ageing has never been more urgent. India is among the countries where these pressures will intensify most sharply in the coming decades.

Thota Sitaramaiah: An internal pillar of an underground organisation

By Harsh Thakor* Thota Sitaramaiah was regarded within his circles as an example of the many individuals whose work in various underground movements remained largely unknown to the wider public. While some leaders become visible through organisational roles or media attention, many others contribute quietly, without public recognition. Sitaramaiah was considered one such figure. He passed away on December 8, 2025, at the age of 65.

Proposals for Babri Masjid, Ram Temple spark fears of polarisation before West Bengal polls

By A Representative A political debate has emerged in West Bengal following recent announcements about plans for new religious structures in Murshidabad district, including a proposed mosque to be named Babri Masjid and a separate announcement by a BJP leader regarding the construction of a Ram temple in another location within Behrampur.

Search This Blog