Government working on softening COVID-19 impact: PM at job fair
What's the story
Prime Minister (PM) of India Narendra Modi during a job fair on Saturday said that his government is working on "softening the economic impact" of COVID-19. PM during the launch of the "Rozgar Mela" said that his government has been "working on different fronts to create maximum possible job opportunities," as he distributed 75,000 appointment letters to government job aspirants from across the country.
Context
Why does this story matter?
In the past few months, data shared by organizations monitoring India's economy have shown positive development as the rate of national unemployment has seen a major decline. As thousands of aspirants are still struggling to find jobs in the pandemic-hit country, the government has asked different departments and ministries to recruit 10 lakh in one and half years' time on a "mission mode" basis.
Recruitment
'75,000 appontment letters to aspirants'
Appointment letters were sent to the aspirants electronically who had qualified procedures to get government jobs in the country. The recruitment processes were carried out by different ministries and autonomous bodies in the country including; Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Railway Recruitment Board (RRB), and others. The new recruits will join nearly 38 different ministries/departments of the Government of India.
Struggle
Impact will not go away in 100 days: PM
PM Modi said that post-COVID problems have not only impacted India but several nations across the world and its impact "will not go away in just 100 days." He said efforts were on to save India from being "impacted by these issues," while saying that "several big economies are struggling to bail out from the problems COVID has come up with."
Employment
'Recruit 10 lakh people on mission mode'
Amid the rising crisis of unemployment in India that worsened after COVID-19 enveloped the country PM Modi in June had asked for recruitment on a "mission mode" basis. He asked different ministries and government departments to recruit 10 lac aspirants by the end of the year 2023. India's national unemployment rate reduced to 6.43% in August as per the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).
Impact
'COVID shrank India's GDP, snatch jobs'
Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation data in June last year, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, showed that India's economy witnessed the worst decline since 1996, the year the ministry started the compilation of GDP figures. Millions of jobs were lost in the two waves of COVID-19 in India since March 2020 which also resulted in a steep drop in consumption.