3-fold rise in unemployment in Haryana under BJP rule: Deepender Hooda

Chandigarh: Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda said the unemployment rate has increased three-fold in Haryana under BJP rule and slammed the Manohar Lal Khattar government over the "appalling" situation.

In a reply to a question in Parliament, Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Rameswar Teli on Thursday said the unemployment rate in Haryana was 2.9 per cent in 2013-14 (when Congress was in power), which increased to 9.0 per cent in 2021-22, the Congress leader said in a statement here.

"If we look at the unemployment rate at the national level, it is 4.1 per cent, which is less than half the unemployment rate in Haryana," Deepender Hooda, son of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, said.

"This appalling situation despite the fact that Haryana is surrounded by the national capital from three sides. Haryana is the only state in the country where the unemployment rate has increased three times during the BJP rule," he said.

He claimed Haryana has become number one in terms of unemployment rate among the major states of the country.

"Haryana has also left behind states like Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat," Deepender Hooda said.

He alleged that the Khattar government in the state was in denial mode of the growing unemployment.

They have always been denying the data by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy which shows rising unemployment by saying that the figures have been put forward by a private agency. But now the central government figures have also shown that the rate of increase in unemployment in Haryana is three times, he said.

Deepender Hooda said Haryana was leading in per capita income and per capita investment till 2014 when the Congress was in power, but has now declined in every development parameter.

"Haryana used to show the way to other states in terms of employment. People used to come from far away for employment in Haryana, but today the youth, who are facing maximum unemployment in the country are constantly being hit by recruitment scams and corruption," he said.

"No new investment, no new factory has come up in the state for the last nine years," he added.

He said on one hand there is maximum unemployment in Haryana, and on the other, two lakh government posts are lying vacant.

"Recruitments are falling prey to corruption. Permanent jobs are slowly being phased out. The exploitation of youth is going on by making temporary recruitment in the name of Kaushal Rozgar Nigam.

"Even if there are some recruitments, most of those jobs are not being given to the youth of Haryana, but to the people of other states, due to the wrong policies of the BJP-JJP government," he said.

"In such a situation, the youth of Haryana is getting completely frustrated and disappointed," he added.