Unemployment rose, GSDP dipped in ’17-18, admits UP government

LUCKNOW: The BJP-led government admitted on the floor of the house on Wednesday that while gross state domestic product has dipped in 2017-18 as compared to the previous financial year, the number of unemployed youth has risen in the same period. In response to a question by Congress MLC Deepak Singh, the government revealed that with 2011-12 as the base year, estimated GSDP for 2017-18 is 6.4%, which is less than the previous year.The estimated GSDP for 2016-17 was 7.4%.
However, the government added that despite the fall, the state managed to maintain its third position among all states from 2011-12 to 2017-18. Simultaneously, labour minister Swami Prasad Maurya also informed the House that as on June 30, 2018, there were more than 21.40 lakh unemployed persons in the state, a rise since the previous year.
‘What about those not listed on website ?’
This too, Maurya clarified, was only based on the number of people listed on the government’s unemployment portal.
Singh, who had posed this question, demanded to know whether the government had any other data to show total unemployed persons in the state to which Maurya said that no such figures existed. “Does the government believe that only those people who have listed on its website are unemployed? What about people who have applied for government jobs, are they unemployed or not?” Singh asked.
He added that when BJP was contesting assembly elections in UP in 2017, it had claimed in its manifesto that it would fill all vacant posts in the government but had failed to do so. “Not only that, it has also retired some people before time. During the February investors’ summit, the government had also said that private investors would have to necessarily employee a percentage of people from UP but no such assurance from them has been taken. Clearly this government has no intention of generating employment,” Singh said.