Modi’s mega employment push, directs 10 lakh recruitments in 18 months

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday reviewed the status of human resources across all government departments and ministries, thereby instructing that the recruitment of ten lakh people be carried out in the next 18 months, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) tweeted.

The prime minister’s review meeting comes more than two months after he suggested the secretaries of the central government to take immediate steps to fill up existing vacancies in the ministries and departments, news agency PTI had quoted cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba.

During his meeting with the secretaries on April 2, the prime minister had stressed that employment should be the focus of all government interventions in public and private sectors.

The cabinet secretary had written to the secretaries and requested them to initiate immediate action on the prime minister’s suggestion.

The government’s decision comes amid the opposition’s frequent criticism of it on the issue of unemployment. A large number of vacant posts in different government sectors has often been flagged.

According to the latest annual report of the Department of Expenditure on Pay and Allowances, the total number of regular central government civilian employees in position (including in the Union territories) as on March 1, 2020 was 31.91 lakh as against the sanctioned strength of 40.78 lakh and approximately 21.75 per cent of the posts were vacant.

The report said almost 92 per cent of the total manpower is covered by five major ministries or departments — railways, defence (civil), home affairs, posts and revenue.

Of the total strength of 31.33 lakh (excluding the Union territories), the percentage share of the railways is 40.55, home affairs 30.5, defence (civil) 12.31, posts 5.66, revenue 3.26 and all other ministries and departments 7.72.

The total expenditure on pay and allowances (excluding productivity-linked bonus or ad-hoc bonus, honorarium, encashment of earned leave and travelling allowance) for the regular central government civilian employees, including the employees of the Union territories and missions, was ₹2,25,744.7 crore in 2019-20 as compared to ₹2,08,960.17 crore in 2018-19.

According to the report, against the sanctioned strength of 10.16 lakh in central police forces, 9.05 lakh employees were in position as on March 1, 2020.

Government sources said various departments and ministries were asked to prepare the details of vacancies following Modi’s direction to this effect and the decision to recruit 10 lakh people was taken following an overall review.

During various Assembly polls, opposition parties have tried to corner the BJP over the issue of unemployment, but the saffron party has been successful in neutralising the criticism with its planks of welfarism, development and Hindutva.

It has also consistently refuted the opposition’s charge on unemployment, arguing that its various programmes have led to a rise in entrepreneurship and overall employment generation. (Hindustan Times)