- Union Minister has said that the reports about high unemployment rate in the country are misleading and asserted that employment generation is the priority of the government.
- This statement came after NSSO report showed that unemployment rate across the country stood at 6.1%,the highest since 1972-73.It also showed that joblessness was higher in urban India (7.8%) than in rural India (5.3%).
- The minister said that for the 2018-19 period,under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme(PMEGP),jobs were generated for 5.8 lakh people as on March 1,2019.
- While mentioning various initiatives taken by the government,the minister also said that 18.26 crore loans were sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) up to March 31,2019.
- PMEGP is a credit linked subsidy programme administered by the Ministry of Micro,Small and Medium Enterprises,Government of India. Khadi & Village Industries Commission(KVIC) is the nodal agency at national level for implementation of the scheme.At state level the scheme is implemented through KVIC,KVIB and District Industries center.
- The objective of the scheme is to (a)generate employment opportunities in rural as well as urban areas through setting up of self employment ventures and (b)provide continuous and sustainable employment to a large segment of traditional and prospective artisans and unemployed youth so as to help arrest migration of rural youth to urban areas.
Unemployment reports are misleading:Union Minister
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