BJP actually came to power in May 2014, and Narendra Modi became Prime Minister of India. People have voted him to power hoping the promised “good day” which never came. What came for the unemployed youth of the country is the unprecedented level of unemployment, which went from bad to worse year after year, and reached 45 years high by the beginning of 2018, and even now it is at 50 years high.

Narendra Modi, the then Gujarat Chief Minister, and the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, would not have been expected at that time that the situation would go wrong to such an extent. That is why he had made the promise as bait to catch votes of the unemployed and their family members critically referring the ruling UPA government which could not do despite announcing it before the Lok Sahba election of 2009.

“With 65 per cent of the Indian population below the age of 35, the youth, currently struggling with unemployment, can be galvanized into a force for the development of the country,” he had said. However, their struggle has all along been going bad to worse becoming more agonizing. The BJP government continued harping on greater promises, while the opposition continued asking as to where the promised “20 million jobs” a year vanished, and why 6 million posts are lying vacant in government, half of them alone in the central government? Opposition even asked why only one million jobs would be provided in one and half years? Answer to the question is simple, because election process will have to be started by that time.

Modi has said that ‘struggling unemployed youth could be galvanized into a force for the development of the country’ that caught the imagination of the youth in 2013. However, within the first three years of Modi rule, the youth having lost illusions, were largely employed not in regular salaried and quality jobs, but informal, irregular, and insecure jobs. Unemployed youths were then started being galvanized in the name of nationalism and communalism by divisive forces that led to the present social unrest in the country.

Will the present bait announced by the PMO in the form of “big recruitment plan” be also effective during the forthcoming Lok Sabha Election in 2014? Only time will tell the correct answer. For the moment, it would be worth examining from where Modi had picked the thread of “unemployment as a political issue.”

Unemployment rate in 2012-13 was 4.7 per cent according to the Labour Bureau survey report of the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment, which was considered too much at that time, and people had started criticizing the UPA government at the centre. The 45th session of the Indian Labour Conference was held on May 17-18, 2013 in which the issue of unemployment came for discussion, and following consultations among the representatives of workers’ and employers’ organizations and Central and State government, the Committee on Measures to Improve Employment and Employability had recommended that the National Employment Policy be finalized as a matter of priority.

Having established himself as Prime Minister, Modi did started working on employment generation and employability, but with a false presumption and foresight. Creation of a separate Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) within six months of his becoming Prime Minister is a glaring example. Theoretically, it seemed to him a great step forward in the backdrop of highly fragmented and appalling 4.69 per cent of workforce with formal vocational skills in contrast to 60 to 90 per cent in developed countries, but practically it failed due to numerous faults in the planning and implementation including vague idea of even ‘knowledge’ and ‘skill’ and reported corruption.

Within a year of rule, Modi had to swallow the bitter pill, and he knew it very well that it is not his cup of tea to make the National Employment Policy as initiated in 2013 to be a priority at a time when growing unemployment have made the youth of the country restive. The 46th session of the Indian Labour Conference was held in 2015, the issue of making National Employment Policy was ignored. No session of the ILC has been held thereafter in the last 7 years.

PM Modi started policy experiments ever since he became prime minister of this country, some would like to say in Quixotic manner, ie taking too bold steps without considering his own and his policy limitations in taming the evils due to which his efforts brought more miseries than good. Demonetization of November 2016 was one of them due to which millions of enterprises shut down, millions other scaled down their production up to 75 per cent, and millions of workforce rendered jobless. It further deteriorated even the economy by adding crisis of supply to the already existing crisis of demand. Second example is the implementation of GST from July 1, 2017 without proper preparations required as we had already seen in case of demonetization.

Over reliance on private sector over the public sector was another mistake. Large scale privatisation of Public sector enterprises weakened the public sector on one hand and the private sector did not come forward for large scale investment. Unemployment deteriorated further and by the beginning of 2018, it became 45 years high at 6.1 per cent according to National Sample Survey Office, which Modi government tried to suppress initially but was leaked. Since it was election time just before Lok Sabha Election 2019, it was even contradicted, but after winning the political battle the report was out and the figures were officially accepted.

Joblessness in now growing sharply and unemployment rate is very high at 7.5 per cent as on June 16, 2022. Urban unemployment has reached 7.7 per cent and the rural unemployment is at 7.3 per cent according to the CMIE data. Sharp price rise and inflation have made the conditions worse. Therefore, PM had no option than announcing one million government jobs now in next one an half year. Even he honors his promise this time, it would be only a drop in the ocean, and his dilemma is to continue because the unemployment situation has already gone out of his control, which will prevent him to make the National Employment Policy in near future.