CHANDIGARH: Former Haryana chief minister and leader of opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda said on Monday that the change in month and year is not bringing any good news or relief to the people of Haryana as the state continues to be number one in unemployment in the country.
Reacting to the latest unemployment data from the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the former chief minister said Haryana had once again touched the highest unemployment figure of 37.4 percent in the country.
"This is 4.5 times more than the national average. Last month Haryana had 30.6% unemployment rate and it seems that Haryana breaks its own record every time in terms of unemployment," he noted.
Hooda said while on one hand employment opportunities are plummeting to new lows every month, the BJP-JJP coalition government is constantly playing with the future of unemployed youth. "About two lakh posts are lying vacant in the government departments of Haryana. Instead of making permanent recruitment against these posts, the government is promoting the practice of hiring contract employees through Skill Employment Corporation. Government departments and posts are being abolished continuously," he said, expressing his concern over the unemployment crisis.
"Taking one more step forward in this direction, the government has issued an order to shut down Hisar Doordarshan, which was created for informative discussions on farmers and contemporary issues, and telecast of state news and cultural programmes. Due to this decision, dozens of employees working in the channel will become unemployed and the infrastructure worth crores of rupees will become useless," he stated.
He added that Haryanvi artists and other experts associated with Doordarshan will not be able to showcase their art and or share their expertise with the people. The former Chief Minister demanded that the government should withdraw the decision to close the channel or shift it.
Hooda said that every step of the present government is being taken to crush the interests of unemployed, poor and farmers. “The government has converted the family identity card into a weapon which is being used to cut the pensions of the elderly and ration cards of poor families,” he said.
"The government has so far cut the pension of about 5 lakh elderly people and the yellow ration cards of 10 lakh BPL families. Poor families are being deprived of welfare schemes by showing exaggerated income. The needy families were earlier deprived of edible oils, pulses, salt etc. Now apart from old age pension and ration, the poor would also be deprived of benefits under Ayushman Bharat, Vivah Shagun or any welfare scheme, including grant for the house," he said and advised that the government should not become so arrogant that it stops seeing the pain of the poor and needy.
