PM Modi sets up two ministerial panels to spur growth, jobs

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday set up two cabinet committees — one dealing with investment and growth and another on employment and skill development — signalling his intent to tackle the two critical challenges confronting the economy.
The decision to set up the panels came along with reconstitution of the Cabinet Committee on Security to reflect changes in the government’s top deck. Headed by Modi, CCS will have defence minister Rajnath Singh, home minister Amit Shah, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and external affairs minister S Jaishankar.
Modi, who had stayed away from setting up too many cabinet committees during his first term, opted to have dedicated groups for a more focused approach to address growth concerns and jobs deficit. Economic growth has slowed down in recent quarters, decelerating to an 18-quarter low of 5.8% during the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year. Similarly, unemployment rate is seen at a multi-year high with the slowdown expected to further impact job generation and consumption.

Economists have argued that the government needs to immediately focus on boosting consumption amid falling auto sales with consumer goods companies too complaining of muted demand, especially in rural areas.
The cabinet committee on investment and growth will have transport and MSME minister Nitin Gadkari as a member apart from Shah, Sitharaman and Goyal, indicating that the government wants to spur investment in the manufacturing sector.
Experts lauded the move and said it signalled the government’s commitment to step up growth and create jobs.
“Formation of these two cabinet committees indicates the firm commitment of the new government to attract FDI into the country, boosting infrastructure development and job creation avenues,” said Kaku Nakhate, president and India country head, Bank of America.
In contrast, the panel on employment and skill development has 10 members, including Narendra Singh Tomar, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Mahendra Nath Pandey, Santosh Gangwar and Hardeep Puri in addition to Shah, Sitharaman and Goyal. Skill development was a thrust for the Modi administration during the first tenure. He assigned the portfolio to Pradhan after failing to get the desired results in the initial run.