No job crisis, North Indians lack qualifications: Labour minister
Bareilly, September 15, 2019: Union labour minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar has said there was no dearth of employment opportunities in the country, but recruiters visiting north India complain of lack of “quality people” to fill vacancies, drawing flak from opposition leaders who accused him of insulting people of the region.
The comments came amid criticism of the government over India’s unemployment rate rising to a 45-year high of 6.1 per cent in 2017-18, data of which was released in May.
“The issue of employment keep figuring in newspapers these days. I am handling the same ministry for labour and employment and examine the issue daily. I have understood the problem,” Gangwar told reporters on Saturday in Bareilly, his Lok Sabha constituency.
“Recruiters who visit north India complain of facing dearth of quality people for the posts they need to fill,” he added.
MoS Santosh Gangwar on his remark''No lack of jobs.Recruiters who come to North India say people lack skills needed for particular job':What I said had different context that there was lack of skills&govt has opened skill ministry so children can be trained as per job requirement https://t.co/5vwCbQLBQP
— ANI (@ANI) September 15, 2019
The minister’s comments drew sharp reactions from opposition with Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra saying the government was trying to escape blame for the job losses due to economic slowdown by such “insulting” comments.
“Mr Minister, it has been more than five years for your government. There is no job creation. Whatever jobs were there, they have been snatched due to the economic slowdown brought by the government. You want to escape by insulting North Indians,” she said.
“Youths are looking towards the government hoping that it will do something good for them,” the Congress general secretary said.
