Ministers Promise Lakhs of Jobs but Do They Deliver? Not Really, Here's the Data

Ministers often make bold claims about job creation. However, there's no accountability framework to track outcomes.

Suchak Patel
Jobs
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<div class="paragraphs"><p>Ministers make promises about lakhs of jobs but are seldom held accountable for it.</p></div>
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Ministers make promises about lakhs of jobs but are seldom held accountable for it.

(Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

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(We, at The Quint, will continue to report on joblessness, layoffs, job scams and labour trafficking looming over India's youth. You can participate in our campaign too. Become a member of The Quint to read all job-related stories and also write to us about issues that matter to you.)

India’s youth face a severe unemployment crisis, with 83% of the jobless population comprising young individuals, as revealed by the India Employment Report 2024 by the ILO and IHD. Alarmingly, the share of educated youth (those with at least secondary education) among the unemployed has nearly doubled, climbing from 35.2% in 2000 to 65.7% in 2022. During project inaugurations, ministers frequently make bold claims about job creation, widely publicised in headlines. However, these promises lack a robust accountability framework to track their actual outcomes.

Promises in the Sky, Jobs on the Ground

In October 2020, while launching the Multi-Modal Logistic Park at Jogighopa in Assam, Minister Nitin Gadkari expressed optimism that the project would provide job opportunities to nearly 20 lakh youth in the state. However, two years later, on March 31, 2022, in response to a question by MP Abdul Khaleque, Gadkari revealed in the Lok Sabha that the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of this project estimated the total employment generated after the park's commencement to be about 11,521 people. This highlights a significant disparity, for the media's projected job generation capacity being 17,300% higher than the project's actual capacity.

In 2019, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the defence corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu were projected to create 3.5 lakh jobs across various stages of their supply chains, with 2.5 lakh jobs in Uttar Pradesh and 1 lakh in Tamil Nadu. However, in 2021, in response to a question by Rewati Raman Singh in Parliament, the government stated that the projects were likely to generate 16,700 jobs in Uttar Pradesh and 25,000 jobs in Tamil Nadu. That is just 11% of the number projected by the Defence minister. 

"When the government or private sector announces a project, it sparks hope among locals for new employment opportunities. However, when the promised jobs fail to materialize, it creates a sense of betrayal within the community," said Anupam, Founder of Yuva Hallbol. He added, "This is the same story across states in our country."

Likewise, while promoting the methanol-based economy, NITI Aayog claimed it would create nearly 5 million jobs through methanol production, application, and distribution services. However, RTI replies from NITI Aayog and the relevant ministries (Coal, Petroleum, and Chemicals) reveal that no data is available on job creation from the methanol economy.

The 2015-16 Annual Report of the Textile Ministry reveals that 45 million people are directly employed in India's textile sector. In 2016, the government introduced a Rs. 6000 crore special package to boost investment, create 111 million jobs, and increase exports in the garment and made-ups industry over three years. Seven years later, on March 17, 2023, the Textile Minister informed the Lok Sabha that the textile industry remains a significant source of employment, with over 45 million directly employed.

This “Chronology” of events suggests that the special package does not generate any employment even though it was envisaged to generate 111 million jobs. Moreover, when the MP asked a question in the Lok Sabha about whether the employment generated in the textile industry fell short of the target set for five years, the Minister for Textile responded on August 6, 2021, stating that the government does not set targets for employment generation in the textile sector!

In August 2017, the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways  (MORTH) launched the "Highways Village" and "Highways Nest" schemes to develop roadside amenities providing rest and refreshment for highway commuters. These projects are expected to create direct and indirect employment for about 20 lakhs people. When I filed an RTI seeking information about this, MORTH did not provide a satisfactory response. Consequently, I appealed to the Central Information Commission (CIC). During the CIC hearing, a representative of the Ministry stated that no such scheme named "Highways Village" exists !

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia announced that the Jewar airport would create 1 lakh jobs. When I filed an RTI to track progress, the Ministry of Civil Aviation transferred the query to the Uttar Pradesh government, which has yet to respond after a year. This suggests that the ministry made statements without possessing the relevant data.

In 2023, P. Iyer, the then CEO of NITI Aayog, claimed that the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme had attracted ₹45,000 crore in investments and created 3 lakh jobs. However, when I filed an RTI seeking a detailed breakdown of these figures, NITI Aayog replied that it does not maintain such data, stating that the information was based on inputs from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

In both of these cases, the leaders of the organization made statements about job generation, yet the organization itself does not possess any data to support these claims. In such situations, how can we hold the statement-makers accountable?

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Counting Jobs, Not Logic: The Absurdity of Job Generation Metrics

The second major concern with job promises lies in the methodology used to estimate the job generation capacity of the particular project. An RTI inquiry to the Textile Ministry revealed intriguing information about the methodology used to estimate job generation capacity for a new project. 

In March 2023, the Government of India announced the establishment of Seven PM Mega Integrated Textile Regions and Apparel (PM MITRA) Parks, projecting the creation of 21 lakh jobs—3 lakh Jobs per park. When asked about the methodology behind this figure, the Ministry replied that since the textile industry is labor-intensive, they "assumed" that each acre of manufacturing would generate 200 direct jobs per acre. Even if this “assumption” holds true, it translates to the creation of 2 lakh jobs, not the projected 3 lakhs per park , as each PM MITRA park is set to be a minimum of 1,000 acres.

At the annual convention of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, Cabinet Minister Nitin Gadkari claimed that India’s electric vehicle (EV) market is expected to reach annual sales of one crore by 2030, creating five crore jobs. This would translate to nearly 83 lakh jobs per year. To put this into perspective, during the fiscal year 2022-23, 1.38 crore new members joined the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF). Gadkari’s statement implies that EVs alone could generate 60% of the total new EPFO members in a single year, which seems like an exaggerated claim. These kinds of statements are often made because there is no robust accountability mechanism to track the actual job generation, leaving room for such speculative claims.

Former Railway Minister Piyush Goyal claimed at the World Economic Forum that the "Railways ecosystem" could create 10 lakh jobs. However, there is no clear definition of what the "Railways ecosystem" includes, and no system exists to hold the ministry accountable for such statements.

Dipa Sinha, a development economist, said that the government invests in projects like roads, railways, and airports while promising employment generation. However, there should be a system to track the actual jobs created by these projects.

In the 2022 Budget speech, the Finance Minister announced that the PLI scheme under Aatmanirbhar Bharat could generate 60 lakh new jobs. To find out the progress on this front, I filed an RTI with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), seeking data on jobs created under the PLI scheme for white goods. In its response, the DPIIT disclosed that the job generation figures were based entirely on self-certification by beneficiary companies, with no cross-verification or audit of the submitted data.

Accountability is the cornerstone of our democratic governance. During the drafting of the Indian Constitution, the Constituent Assembly unanimously agreed on a democratic system for independent India. However, there was no consensus on the mode of governance. While the U.S.-style presidential system offered stability, the U.K.-style parliamentary system emphasised accountability. BR Ambedkar chose accountability over stability for a crisis-ridden India—a bold decision highlighting its importance. Yet, even after 75 years of independence, we lack a robust mechanism to hold elected leaders accountable for the promises they make about job and employment generation.

(Suchak Patel is an independent journalist).

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