Modi says Government working on multiple fronts to create more and more jobs

New Delhi, October 22, 2022

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that the Government was working simultaneously on multiple fronts to create more and more jobs in the country.

Speaking after launching Rozgar Mela, the Government's recruitment drive for 10 lakh personnel, via video conference here, Modi said the Centre was working with a target of more than Rs 100 lakh crore on infrastructure works.

He said the development work being carried out on such a large scale would create lakhs of jobs for youth at the local level.

He also spoke about the facilities being added at places of faith and historical importance and said that such works for modern infrastructure woud give an impetus to the tourism sector and create employment opporunities for the youth in rural areas.

During today's ceremony, appointment letters were handed, in the first phase of the recruitment drive, to 75,000 new appointees in various departments of the Government.

Referring to Dhanteras, which was being celebrated today, Modi said, “Today marks the day when a new link in the form of Rozgar Mela is being anchored to the employment and self-employment campaigns in the country that are going on for the last 8 years."

“We decided that a tradition of giving appointment letters in one go should be started so that a collective temperament of completing projects in a time-bound way develops in departments," he said.

In the coming days, more candidates will get their appointment letters from the government.

“I am happy that many NDA-ruled and BJP-ruled states along with the Union Territories will also organise similar Melas," he said.

Modi said innovators, entrepreneurs, industrialists, farmers and people from the field of manufacturing and services have a crucial role in taking India to the path of self-reliance. Highlighting the importance of "Sabka Prayas", the Prime Minister said that everyone’s efforts are critical in this journey and this feeling of Sabka Prayas is possible only when all the important amenities reach everyone.

He said that, in the past, applying for government jobs was a cumbersome process and favourtism and corruption were rampant in selections. He said that the steps during the initial years of his government, like self-attestation and abolition of interviews in Group C and Group D posts of the Central Government, have helped the youth.

"Today, India is the fifth biggest economy. This feat has been achieved because of the reforms undertaken in the last eight years. We have leapt forward from the 10th to 5th position in the last 7-8 years," he said.

Acknowledging the enormity of the economic challenges that the country faces, the Prime Minister said that India could manage to contain the negative repercussions to a great degree. “This has been made possible because in the last eight years we got rid of those shortcomings of the country's economy which created hindrances,” he said.

The Prime Minister also spoke about the importance of skill development and said that, under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, a huge campaign is going on to train the youth according to the needs of the industries of the country.

He also mentioned initiatives such as the liberalisation of the drone policy, opening up the space sector and the Mudra scheme. “Never before a self-employment program of this magnitude was implemented in the county,” he said.

The Start-Up India campaign, the Prime Minister pointed out, has established the potential of the youth of the country all over the world. Similarly, MSMEs were supported in a big way during the pandemic, protecting about 1.5 crore jobs. MGNREGA amounts to jobs for 7 crore people in the country, he added.

Modi said the most ambitious project for the country in the 21st century has been Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat. "Today, the country is moving from being a growing importer to a very large exporter in many respects. There are many such sectors in which India is moving fast towards becoming a global hub today. Record-breaking exports also indicate robust employment growth," he said.

“Government is working comprehensively in the manufacturing and tourism sectors as both have huge employment potential,” he said.

"Processes are also being simplified for companies from all over the world to come to India, set up their factories and meet the world's demand. The government has also started the PLI scheme to give incentives on a production basis. The more production, the more incentive, that is the policy of India. Its results are already visible in many sectors today. The data of EPFO ​​which has been coming in the past years also shows how much the government's policies regarding employment have improved the situation," he said.

Modi said that, according to the data that came two days ago, in August this year, about 17 lakh people joined EPFO and have now become a part of the country's formal economy. He said that about 8 lakh such people are in the age group of 18 to 25 years.

The Prime Minister highlighted the aspect of employment generation through infrastructure creation. He said thousands of kilometres of national highways have been constructed across the country in the last eight years and work is being constantly done across the country on doubling, gauge conversion, and electrification of railway lines. He further added that new airports are being built in the country, railway stations are being modernised, and new waterways are being built.

“More than three crore houses have also been built under PM Awas Yojana,” he said.

He said India's biggest strength was its youth, who were the driving force behind the efforts to make it a developed nation over the next 25 years.

NNN