NDA created more jobs than UPA did

The NDA government during its six years of rule was able to create more jobs than the UPA did in eight years, indicating that the UPA 'high growth' regime did not create sufficient jobs. Chetan Chauhan reports.

Updated on: Jun 22, 2013, 02:22:16 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Share via

Copy link

The UPA government’s latest statistics on job creation would send cheer bells ringing in the NDA.

The NDA government during its six years of rule was able to create more jobs than the UPA did in eight years, indicating that the UPA 'high growth' regime did not create sufficient jobs.

The last government study of around 1.7 lakh households before next general elections shows that 53 million new jobs were created between 2004-05 and January 2012, the period of the UPA’s rule as against 60 million jobs created between 1999-2000 and 2003-04, the NDA government regime.

The UPA managers, however, blame the two economic slow-downs impacting the manufacturing industry - the source of new jobs - as the prime reason for insufficient creation of jobs.

Another reason given was that because of introduction of Right To Education Act, a large number of children in the 14 to 18 age group, who were earlier in the work-force, went to schools.

"The biggest decline in workforce came in age groups of children as they are now opting for education instead of work. Its impact was visible in the overall workforce," said Abhijit Sen, a planning commission member.

The plan panel has estimated that if comparison is done of workforce above 18 years of age then the job created during the UPA term would be more than that of NDA.

The National Sample Survey Office study, however, had a positive for the job market as average new jobs creation per year between January of 2010 and 2012 was seven million. In the previous six year, the average annual growth was 6.6 million new jobs.

This was despite unemployment rate rising in India in this period by two percent. The survey also said that the average wages had also increased with the national average being Rs 396 as compared to about Rs 200 in 2004-05.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.