Ravi Shankar Prasad terms govt report on unemployment as "wrong"

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday dismissed concerns over state of unemployment in India. Calling National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) report as “wrong”, he countered it by listing 10 parameters such as electronic manufacturing and Information Techlogy. Furrmore, he questioned why NSSO data did t take into consideration se parameters. Stating that BJP never promised to give everyone a government job, he accused some individuals of deliberately misleading nation. 

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Prasad opined, “I call that report wrong. Did NSSO include numbers which I just listed? I have given you ten numbers. All are honest numbers. t even one is present in ir report. Why is it t re? In electronic manufacturing, Information Techlogy, Mudra loan, common service centre. We had never said that we will give government jobs to everyone. And we are t saying so even w. That is why some people tried to mislead in a planned fashion. And I am saying so with full sense of responsibility. I have said this in Delhi also.” 

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NSSO report controversy 

Prasad’s remarks about NSSO come at a juncture when it still operates under aegis of Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. controversy originally broke out last year when NSSO report on unemployment was leaked. While opposition attacked BJP for, report painted a very negative picture, government withheld it, terming it as a ‘draft report’. A few days after BJP retained power at Centre in May, 2017/18 report was finally released. Incidentally, unemployment rate of 6.1%, a 45-year high was same as claimed by leaked report. For rural areas, unemployment rate was 5.3 per cent, while in urban areas it was 7.8 per cent. However, Finance Ministry released a statement which said that comparing new job data with old numbers was faulty.  

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