New Delhi: Hit hard by low GDP growth and a 45-year high unemployment rate of 6.1 per cent, the Modi government Wednesday swung into action and formed two cabinet committees to check the declining trend in growth and employment and spur demand as well as consumption.
A five-member cabinet panel on investment and growth has members comprising Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The Government’s other panel which will look at the unemployment issue – Cabinet Committee on Employment and Skill Developement – has 10 members. This committee apart from Shah, Sitharaman and Goyal has Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar, Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ , Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Skill and Entrepreneurship Mahendra Nath Pandey and ministers of state Santosh Kumar Gangwar (Labour) and Hardeep Singh Puri (Housing and Urban Affairs).
The stupendous success of the Modi government at the hustings with 303 Lok Sabha seats was marred by the news on the economic front. The new economic and job numbers set alarm bells ringing. Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg has already said the slowdown of Quarter-4 could persist in the Quarter-1 of the current fiscal.
The numbers were unimpressive. The fourth quarter GDP growth (Jan-March) is at 5.8% , a 17-quarter low while the same day a government report of joblessness pegged it at the highest in 45 years. These macroeconomic figures released last month – GDP growth, unemployment numbers and core sector data – laid bare the enormous challenges the Modi 2.0 team faces in resurrecting the slackening economy and restoring the confidence of investors.
In March the IIP fell to 21-months low. The fourth-quarter GDP growth for 2018-19 came in at 5.8 per cent, way below 8 per cent recorded in the same quarter the previous fiscal, lower than the 6.6 per cent growth in Q3. For the entire fiscal 2018-19, the GDP growth came in at 6.8 per cent, lower than the 7.2 per cent growth recorded in the previous fiscal.
The Labour Ministry data revealed joblessness in the country was 6.1 per cent of total labour force during 2017-18, the highest in 45 years. Much to the discomfort of the government, this has confirmed the unemployment rate projected in a pre-election leaked report. Data from the Labour Ministry showed that 7.8 per cent of all employable urban youth were jobless, while the percentage for the rural segment was 5.3 per cent.
The core sector data, too, pointed towards a gloomy picture as contraction in crude oil, natural gas and fertiliser output pulled down the aggregate growth rate of eight core infrastructure industries in April to 2.6 per cent. This was much lower than the 4.7 per cent growth recorded in same month last fiscal.