india

Updated: Feb 25, 2019 21:54 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday dismissed the opposition’s campaign that India was seeing a rise in unemployment and questioned how it was possible when the country was growing at record rates.

“Is it possible that with India growing at record rates, there are no jobs in the country? With Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) at all time high, Indians moving out of poverty at record rate, roads and railway lines being constructed, how is India not producing jobs?” Modi said while speaking at News18’s ‘Rising India’ summit.

The opposition had targeted the NDA government over the past few weeks citing the National Sample Survey Office’s figures for 2017-18 saying that unemployment rate has touched the highest level in 45 years.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi had referred to PM Modi’s promise of “2 crore jobs” before 2014 polls and said the the promise has turned into “a National Disaster” in five years.

Also read: ‘India first or family?’ PM Modi trains guns at Congress at National War Memorial launch

PM Modi said that the opposition is only focused on targeting him and claimed that people who want to “loot” public money don’t like him. “The opposition remembers me every day. Attacking me is their priority. For me the taxpayer, the common main is priority,” Modi said.

The Prime Minister also stressed that India is going through an economic boom and dismissed reports of job loss. He said that in 2014 India had slipped from 132 to 142 is ease of doing business ranking. “Now we are at the 77 spot, up by 23 spots in the ease of doing business rankings,” he added.

Also read:‘Jobless growth slipped into job-loss growth’, Manmohan Singh targets NDA govt

Modi, who inaugurated the National War Memorial on Monday, said his government is focused on the welfare of soldiers and farmers. The war memorial is located near the India Gate complex and pays homage to over 26,000 soldiers who have sacrificed their lives since 1947. It was promised by the National Democratic Alliance in its 2014 election manifesto.

On Sunday, the PM launched the Rs 75,000 crore Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme that is meant to benefit 12 crore farmers across India, the cash transfer scheme proposes to give Rs 6,000 to farmers in three instalments annually. “Yesterday it was jai kisan, today it was jai jawan,” Modi said on Monday recalling the famous slogan coined by former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.