DMK president M.K. Stalin on Sunday urged the State government to come out with a White Paper on investments made through Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) signed in the Global Investors Meet (GIM-2), during the Chief Minister’s foreign tour and the COVID-19 pandemic, and the employment opportunities generated by the MoUs.
In a statement in Chennai, he said that unemployment had increased to 49.9%, and it was double the national average of 23.5%. “Since December 2019, unemployment has increased by 10 times and dashed the hopes of the youth,” he charged.
Citing a survey report of the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) and the Department of Economics and Statistics that 53% of households in Tamil Nadu had witnessed at least one job loss during the pandemic, Mr. Stalin said the situation was the same in both urban and rural areas.
He alleged that Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami depended on empty announcements and ostentatious advertisements and gave priority to “tenders released with the aim of collecting commission”.
According to him, the economy and industrial growth of the State had hit rock-bottom and the government had disappointed and betrayed the youth of the State. The DMK leader said the AIADMK government had not followed any regulations and scientific methods during the pandemic. “It has opened TASMAC liquor outlets and prevented people from going to work,” he said.
Mr. Stalin said 83.4% of unorganised workers had lost their jobs. “But the government has not paid heed to the demand of the DMK that ₹5,000 should be given to every family in the State,” he said.
