Prime minister Narendra Modi today (June 14) announced that his government will recruit a million people across various departments over the next 1.5 years.
Modi’s office, however, did not reveal details of the nature of vacancies that will be filled.
The announcement comes at a time when the country’s unemployment rate is on the rise—it grew to 7.83% in April from 7.60% in March, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). Last week, the World Bank cut India’s GDP growth forecast for 2022-23 to 7.5% from the earlier estimate of 8%, citing the impact of high inflation, supply chain disruptions and geopolitical tensions.
The Modi government has faced severe criticism for not being able to generate jobs, especially after the pandemic-triggered economic slump.
With this latest announcement, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party will now look to do some damage control ahead of the next general election that is due in less than two years.