‘Rising population behind growing unemployment’

The Uttar Pradesh government admitted in the Vidhan Sabha that unemployment had increased in the state because of the increase in population but claimed that it was trying to address the problem in a scientific way by imparting skills to the youths.

Dissatisfied by the reply of Labour Minister Swami Prasad Maurya, the Congress members  staged a noisy walkout from the Assembly. 

The minister announced that 63,152 youths were given jobs by the private sector in the job fairs organised in the state after the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power.

Congress leader Ajay Kumar Lallu said that the BJP came to power in the state with tall promises but had failed to do anything as lakhs of youths were still jobless.

“We are doing our best, but the rise in population also increases unemployment,” the minister said, replying to Ajay Kumar Lallu and other members during the Question Hour.

Maurya said that of the total employment given through job fairs, 34,427 were to skilled persons and 28,725 to semi-skilled.

The minister said that a total of 1,89,936 youths were imparted skill development training during that period and out of them 67,003 got jobs.

In reply to another question of Congress members, the government said that it had no figures of landless agriculture labourers in the state as no specific survey was conducted in this regard.

However, the government said, as per the Social, Economic and Caste Census of 2011, there were 1,16,49,175 landless families in rural areas of the state, which was around 44.78 per cent of the total rural families in the state.

Maurya said the government had set up a UP State Social Security Board on August 8 last and it would register the landless agricultural labourers and unorganised labourers in the state. He added that the registered people would be eligible for Deen Dayal Insurance Scheme and Atal Pension Scheme during 2018-19.

Rafale deal: Congress members on Friday staged a noisy protest in the Vidhan Sabha, demanding a JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee) probe into the Rafale fighter aircraft deal.

The Congress members led by their leader Ajay Kumar Lallu came into the Well of the House during the zero hour and staged protest, raising slogans against the Central government. Later they walked out of the House.

While raising the issue, Lallu said the Rafale deal was the country’s biggest scam and a JPC probe would find out the real culprits. 

He also said that giving the contract to a private company, which had no experience of manufacturing aircraft, and denying HAL, a public sector undertaking, the contract, showed the real face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the scam.