‘Where Is My Job?’: DYFI to Organise Youth Rally in Delhi on November 3

The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) has called for a protest march from Mandi House to Parliament Street on November 3. The rally, “Where is My Job? Chalo Delhi” is a declaration against the Modi government, which has failed to keep the promise of providing two crore jobs every year. They could not even 10 per cent of their promised numbers.

In the last four years, unemployment has been increasing at an alarming rate, especially among the youth. According to the official data, the current unemployment rate in India is over 7.1 per cent. Over 30 million job seekers are unable to find any viable means of livelihood. In a recent study conducted by the Azim Premji University, it was found that the unemployment rate among the highly educated youth in India is 16 per cent. The study also showed that the ratio of GDP growth to employment growth is only 0.1 per cent. Mohammed Riyas, President of DYFI, said, “Modi Government came to power by promising the youth a new India. But even after four and a half years, unemployment is at a record high.”

‘MNREGA Sabotaged by BJP’

UPA 1 had launched the rural employment guarantee programme, MNREGA, as per the agreement on Common Minimum Programme with left parties. This programme made it possible for the rural population, especially women, to find jobs. However, the Modi government sabotaged the programme by cutting the budget and delaying the funds for the states. At present, there are 56.9 million families across the country that are registered for the scheme and are still waiting for employment. According to the annual survey conducted by National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), in India, there are about 12.5 million households that do not have a single person with any sustainable income.

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“MNREGA is not there anymore. So the women who had jobs under the scheme are unemployed now. When there are not many employment options available, the prospects become even worse for women,” said Vice President of DYFI, Preethy Shekhar, while talking to Newsclick. India is now ranked 130 out of 142 when it comes to women’s labour participation.

“The Modi government had promised 2 crore new jobs every year, which means in four and a half years, there should have been 9 crore new jobs. However, according to the data released by the government, there have been only 6 lakh new jobs. The current unemployment rate has reached alarmingly high levels,” said Avoy Mukherjee, General Secretary of DYFI.

After demonetisation, the small and middle scale industries in the country collapsed, and initially, an estimated job loss of 2.4 million was reported. Export rates fell by 24 per cent. The Modi government launched a range of schemes, like Skill India, Make in India, etc., claiming that they would generate employment. However, government data shows that none of the schemes achieved even half of the declared target. For example, according to the target of the Make in India scheme, the manufacturing sector alone was supposed to contribute 25 per cent to the total GDP of the country by 2020. But the current data shows that only 1.6 per cent of the total GDP is being contributed by the manufacturing sector.

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“People from all over the country are going to come to Delhi on November 3, and are going to raise their voices and ask Modi, ‘Where is my job?’ We are expecting that around 10 thousand people will be taking part in the rally,” added Mukherjee. DYFI has been organising protests and programmes all over India in the run up to the rally. The youth have been raising their voices, asking the same question again and again.

“We want to remind Modi and BJP that they are going to face the wrath of the youth. The rally on November 3 in Delhi will be a culmination of massive youth protests raging against this government in different parts of the country,” said Riyas.