: Thursday, May 28, 2026 8:20 PM
Pushkar. Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly Tikaram Julie addressed the Congress training camp organized in Pushkar on Thursday. In his address, he made a scathing attack on the BJP governments at the Center and the State regarding the increasing unemployment in the country and the state. The Leader of Opposition said that today the youth of the country are forced to wander from door to door, becoming victims of the politics of rhetoric and the government is using unemployment as a weapon of communalism to divert attention from the real issues. Degree in hand, but employment missing: Leader of Opposition Tikaram Julie said that today crores of educated youth of the country have dreams in their eyes, but their pockets are empty. Citing Azim Premji University’s ‘State of Working India 2026’ report, he said that every year 50 lakh graduates come out in the country, but only 17 lakh get jobs. According to The Pioneer newspaper, by March 2026 the youth unemployment rate will reach 15.2% and among female youth it will reach 18%. He sarcastically said that under the rule of those who gave the slogan of “Acche Din” in 2014, the youth have faced such bad days that no one had even imagined. Today the situation is such that ‘Graduate Vada Pav’, ‘MBA Chaiwala’ and ‘Engineer Uber Driver’ are roaming in the country, which is the biggest insult to the degrees and dreams of the youth of the country.
Economic structure collapsed due to demonetization, GST and labor laws:
Attacking the economic policies of the BJP, the Leader of Opposition said that 20 crore jobs are missing during the 10-year tenure of the government which promised 2 crore jobs annually. CMIE figures show that the unemployment rate in the country is 7 to 8 percent. The sudden demonetization of 2016 broke the back of MSMEs and small traders, resulting in the loss of 35 lakh jobs in the initial days itself. Due to the complex GST system implemented soon thereafter, about 63 lakh informal establishments closed and 1.6 crore people lost their jobs between 2015-16 and 2022-23. Small shopkeepers were ruined and the entire field was handed over to select big corporate houses. Apart from this, the protection of workers has been completely removed by bringing new labor codes.
Lakhs of posts are vacant in government departments, playing with the youth:
Julie termed the Central Government’s schemes like ‘Make in India’ and ‘Skill India’ as a complete failure. He said that today 3.8 lakh posts in Railways, 50% posts in Income Tax Department and 50% posts in CAG are lying vacant. A total of 8.45 lakh posts are vacant in various departments of the Central Government, but recruitment is not being done. Even after collecting form fees worth crores of rupees from 2.4 crore youth for one recruitment of Railways, the examinations are not being conducted on time. Even in a prestigious examination like UPSC, the number of posts has been reduced to half as compared to 2014. Instead of providing employment to the youth, they are being deliberately entangled in communalism, casteism and temple-mosque disputes so that they cannot ask questions on jobs.
Rajasthan minimum income guarantee law put on hold:
Recalling the tenure of the previous Congress government, former Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Shri Julie said that we had made the historic ‘Rajasthan Minimum Income Guarantee Act 2023’ in the interest of the youth, the elderly and the underprivileged. Rajasthan became the first state in the country to bring such a law, in which 125 days of permanent employment was guaranteed in rural and urban areas and the elderly, disabled and widows were given the legal right to a minimum monthly pension of ₹ 1000 with an automatic increase of 15% every year. It is extremely unfortunate that the present BJP government is not implementing this public-friendly law and the entitled people are forced to make rounds of government offices today.
Congress policies were a strong foundation for employment:
Giving historical context, Julie said that Congress governments always laid a strong foundation of employment in the country. The construction of big dams and infrastructure like Bhakra Nangal, Hirakud and Nagarjuna Sagar were not just infrastructure but also a means of employment for crores of labourers. In 1991, P.V. The Congress government of Narasimha Rao and Dr. Manmohan Singh opened the way for private and foreign investment through economic liberalisation, making India an IT superpower. Today, the future of lakhs of youth working in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune is the result of the policies of Congress. Referring to the UPA government’s ‘MNREGA’ scheme, he said it established the world’s largest social security program by guaranteeing 100 days of employment to rural India, under which a record 284 crore man-days of employment was generated in 2008-09.
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Web Title-Degrees in Hand, Yet No Jobs in Sight; Central and State Governments Playing a Cruel Joke on Youth Aspirations: Tikaram Jully