10 lakh Govt jobs in mission mode, in 18 months: PMO

With the youth unemployment rate in cities hovering above 20 per cent, the government Tuesday announced it would recruit 10 lakh people in “mission mode” over the next one-and-a-half years.

In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “reviewed the status of Human Resources in all departments and ministries.”

“He also instructed that recruitment of 10 lakh people be done by the Government in mission mode in next 1.5 years,” the PMO said.

Taking to Twitter, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, “The basis of New India is its youth power, to empower them Shri Modi is working continuously. Shri Modi’s directive to make 10 lakh recruitment in mission mode in all government departments and ministries in 1.5 years will bring new hope and confidence among the youth.”

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, “After reviewing various GoI departments and ministries, @PMOIndia directs to recruit 10 lakh young people within the next 1.5 years. Giving opportunities to the young in public administration is welcome.”

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar described the announcement as a “historic decision” and said it is in the “interest of the youth.” He said that in compliance with the instructions of the PM, directions have been given to fill up all vacant posts under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare at the earliest.

The announcement came at a time when the unemployment rate for youth (aged 15-29 years) in urban areas has been hovering at over 20 per cent for the last several quarters.

According to the Quarterly Bulletin of Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), released by the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), the youth unemployment rate, according to current weekly status, stood at 20.8 per cent in urban areas during October-December 2021. The annual PLFS report, released by the MoSPI Tuesday, too shows that the overall youth unemployment rate, according to usual status (ps+ss), was at 12.9 per cent — 18.5 per cent in urban areas and 10.7 per cent in rural areas — during July-June 2020-21.

Official reports show that every fifth post was vacant in March 2019, just a year before the Covid-19 outbreak. As per the Annual Report on Pay and Allowances of the Central Government Employees for 2018-19, the total number of regular Central Government Civilian Employees in position (including Union Territories) was 31.43 lakh as on March 1, 2019, against the sanctioned strength of 40.66 lakh and approximately 22.69 per cent of the posts were vacant.

While the number of vacancies is at a high level, recruitment has not gained pace.

According to information shared by Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, Staff Selection Commission (SSC) and Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) advertised 1,85,734 and 27,764 posts respectively and recruited 1,74,744 and 24,836 candidates respectively in 5 years between 2017-18 and 2021-22.

source: indianexpress.com