Congress launches double-barreled attack on BJP

The Congress on Thursday launched double-barreled attack on BJP using failing education and rising unemployment in the county as the latest ammunition in the wake of assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra.

Head of the Congress media cell, Randeep Surjewala said that recently-released economic and higher education indicators substantiate the claim that the state of the country is in shambles under Modi regime.

“BJP and the present Government has turned the demographic dividend of India into a Demographic Disaster by their lopsided policy. A Government that continues to say in Hindi ‘Sub Kuch theek thaak hai’ has demolished the access to education and access to employment for India’s talented youth,” he said.

Quoting figures from two reports: the 8th Annual All India Survey on Higher Education, 2018-19 released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), and ‘Unemployment in India: A Statistical Profile’ released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), Surjewala blamed BJP government for “demolishing the educational edifice, the employment apparatus opportunities in India”.

Surjewala said that at 8.19% in August, 2019, the unemployment rate in India is the highest since Independence. According to Surjewala, the August figures show further deterioration from 7.03% in May 2019, which itself was the highest in the last 50 years.

Surjewala also pointed out that the figures are much higher than the global average of 4.95% declared by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

“While the unemployment rate among men is 6%, it is 17.5% among women. This is the reality of the union government’s Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao mission,” pointed out Surjewala.

Another staggering conclusion the CMIE report reaches is that the current unemployment rate is almost three times higher than the global average among those who are graduates or more. Almost 15% of those highly-educated people who are actively looking for a job are unable to find one.

Citing the MHRD report, the Congress leader said that the government in its own report admits that 74% among the youth, between 18 and 23 years, are not enrolled in colleges at the moment.

“Only 2.5% colleges in India are admitting students in PhD programmes. As many as 35% of the total colleges have only one single programme. And to top it all, 83% of the total number of colleges in India are privately managed. What has happened to the responsibility of the government which claimed to provide world-class education to all?” Surjewala asked.

Hitting out at the BJP for not implementing reservation policy, Surjewala asserted that only 8.5% of the total number of teachers are from Scheduled Caste communities, which means that even the minimum guaranteed reservation system is not being implemented properly.

“BJP and the present government have turned India’s demographic dividend into a demographic disaster because of their disastrous policies. A government that continues to say ‘everything is fine’ should think a little more,” he said, adding that it is “time for the prime minister to look beyond stage-managed programmes.”

Drawing a parallel between 10 years of the UPA government and the BJP led NDA government, Surjewala highlighted that during UPA government, the unemployment rate had never shot up like this.

Taking a jibe at the PM, the Congress leader said that the prime minister should now start addressing the most pertinent question the youth of India is asking, that is “Howdy, Education, Howdy, Unemployment”.