Guwahati: While BJP is celebrating Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 70th birthday as Sewa Saptah (week of services) from September 14 to September 20, people on social media platform Twitter are observing PM Modi's birthday today as 'National Unemployment Day' to mark their protest against the rising unemployment in India. This initiative by the netizens is to remind the Prime Minister and his party about the growing unemployment and severe economic downfall the country is facing right now.
Many slammed the government on the high unemployment rate and are asking the government to increase job opportunities. Many are also raising the issue of delay in exam results of SSC results and urging the government to make reforms for students.
The unemployment rate in India has been rapidly rising while there has been a drastic increase in joblessness in the past quarter. According to the Centre for Monitoring India Economy (CMIE) since lockdown was imposed in March, there have been significant job losses across the country, the overall unemployment rate has hit over 23% in the last week of March this year. Although there has been a decent recovery in recent months, but the unemployment remains higher than the pre-lockdown levels.
The National Statistical Office(NSO) reported that in the April-June quarter India's GDP contracted by 23.9% making it the first major contraction in the last 40 years. As the unemployment rate is increasing in the country, the youth of the nation are demanding various employment reforms throughout the week. According to reports, rural unemployment has increased and reached 7.65% in August compared to 6.66 % recorded in July. As per a London School of Economics report, the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the pre-existing inequities in urban India and has left the ''lockdown generation'' with lower employment rates.
Speaking on the current outrage over unemployment, Tina Ahmed, a student who just completed her MA from Assam University said, ''BJP government promised to give 2 crore jobs in India every year. In Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma assured us that if BJP comes to power in the State, it will give 20 lakh jobs. But students are still queuing up every day to enroll their names in employment exchange office just to get no calls in return''
''In 2014, when Modi contested the Lok Sabha elections, employment generation was the primary agenda, whereas today the youths of the country are frustrated over the unemployment and lack of opportunities in the market'', said Jatin Saha, a B.Com graduate from GC College, Silchar.
Amid the current economic crisis, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi too slammed the Government over the growing rate of unemployment in India. Taking to Twitter, Gandhi said, '' Massive unemployment has forced the youth to call today #NationalUnemploymentDay. Employment is dignity. For how long will the Govt deny it?"
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