Do MP govt job numbers lie? Priyanka Gandhi’s catch-21 for Shivraj Singh Chouhan

So shocked was she, Priyanka said, that she got Congress party members to cross-check “three times”. But no, the fact remained stark: that, in the last three years, the BJP government in the state had provided “only 21 government jobs”.

The BJP immediately contradicted her, saying Priyanka’s data was incorrect and that the government figures showed it had “provided over 61,000 government jobs in the last three years”, and that the number would be even higher if contractual staff were taken into account.

What Priyanka was citing was a written reply given in the state Assembly by Madhya Pradesh Minister for Sports & Youth Welfare Yashodhara Raje Scindia.

During the Monsoon Session, which concluded in March, Congress MLA Mevaram Jatav had shot off a flurry of questions to senior BJP ministers, including on the state of unemployment in the state. Jatav told The Indian Express: “I asked the government to furnish the data of how many persons were given employment in government posts. Unemployment is the biggest issue in this state. They have been making big claims and I asked them to put it on paper. What they told us was shocking.”

On March 1, in a written reply to his question, Scindia stated that from April 1, 2020, “21 applicants were provided employment in government and semi-government offices. Apart from this, offer letters were provided to 2,51,577 applicants through the employment fair by private sector employers”.

Her reply added that 39,93,149 people (37,80,679 educated and 1,12,470 uneducated) had registered themselves at employment offices in the state. And that Rs 1,674.73 lakh had been spent in the financial year 2021-22 for operating the employment offices.

While Scindia remained unavailable for comment, government officials stated the Congress was reading the numbers wrongly. “This (21) is the figure of registered youths in employment offices in the state, who got jobs in government departments. But the data of the total number of employed persons in the state comes up to a total of 61,000.”

BJP spokesperson Hitesh Bajpai said: “38,000 teaching jobs alone have been provided. So from where Priyanka got her figure is curious. All figures are fake, these figures will only malign her image. She should work on her figures next time.”

The Congress, in turn, accused the BJP of number juggling and said that what the BJP describes as jobs are “mere announcements” and that “these jobs don’t exist”. Congress spokesperson Piyush Babele said, “If 60,000 jobs were created, then the government should have made that clear in their reply. These jobs don’t exist.”

The Congress, which looks set to give the BJP a tough fight in Madhya Pradesh, has been aggressively raising the issue of unemployment.

Congress state president and top chief minister contender Kamal Nath ends every speech by pointing towards young people in the crowd and saying, “I see a lot of young people who have come. Unemployment among our youth is the biggest challenge for us.”

The Congress has also been raising suicides amongst the young, claiming that “10,298 students and 6,999 unemployed persons have died by suicide in the state” under BJP rule.

Madhya Pradesh recently tried to tackle the issue with a ‘Learn and Earn Scheme’ for unemployed youths. Under this, youths who have studied at least uptil Class 12 are to get a stipend of Rs 8,000, those who have cleared Industrial Training Institute courses can earn Rs 8,500, diploma holders Rs 9,000, and youth having degrees higher than this Rs 10,000 a month as stipend.

CM Chouhan had also announced a target of filling one lakh vacant government posts by August 15.

Also Read

From the Urdu Press: Why is PM silent on Manipur, Muslims are not 'outsid...

Meitei MLAs put up show of strength in Delhi, seek territorial integrity,...

Gita Press award: Oppn member in jury, Adhir Chowdhury, says was kept in ...

Faultlines in Karnataka Congress re-emerge as ministers and Shivakumar's ...

A BJP leader said: “We have been aggressively propagating nine years of BJP rule in the country and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s achievements, along with state government efforts to bring a change in people’s lives. One campaign speech will not damage us.”