Amartya Sen said that the focus should be on better education and healthcare.

Nobel laureate and economist Amartya Sen on Monday said the Congress was not very good at creating jobs but the Modi government made the situation "a hell lot worse".

Amartya Sen said that reservation is not the answer to economic inequality prevalent in the country.

"We can deal with income inequality through economic opportunities," Amartya Sen said in an exclusive interview with India Today TV.

He blamed the Congress for keeping the issue of reservation alive among the masses in the early years of independence.

"But it has gotten much worse in the Modi period," Sen said.

When asked about the Modi government's decision to extend 10 per cent reservation for the economically weaker sections of the general category, Sen said, "If the Modi government believes that Congress was at fault [for perpetuating reservation], which they were to some extent, then they should've corrected it instead of following it.

He said reservation was introduced because of inequality and that it was never a question of income.

He said, "To think that income inequality can be dealt with reservation is confounded thinking. Reservation is not the answer. We can deal with income inequality through economic opportunities," he said.

He also said the focus should not be on reservation but on better education and basic healthcare which is required in the country.