Citing the National Statistical Office’s (NSO) Periodic Labour Force Survey report for October-December 2024, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said the state’s unemployment rate in the given period was 4.7 per cent, significantly lower than the national average and the employment rates in neighbouring states.
Saini, however, said the present BJP government provided more than twice as many jobs as the Congress had, and that too based on transparency.
The chief minister was responding to questions raised by opposition MLAs on the Governor’s address in the Vidhan Sabha here on Thursday.
According to NSO’s data, the national unemployment rate stands at 6.4 per cent; in Jammu and Kashmir, where the Congress is in alliance, the unemployment rate is 13.1 per cent; in Himachal Pradesh, where the Congress is in power, the unemployment rate is 10.4 per cent; and, in Punjab, where the Congress is the Opposition party, despite AAP and the Congress being part of the I.N.D.I.A alliance nationally, the unemployment rate is 5.9 per cent.
The chief minister said, “Over the past 10 years, the current (BJP) government has not only provided government jobs to reduce unemployment in the state but also focused on developing skills of the youths for employment in the private sector.”
Asking the Congress to refrain from commenting on unemployment figures, Saini said, “During its 10-year tenure, the Congress provided government jobs to only 86,000 youths, and Haryana knows how these jobs were given. During their times, even before the lists of candidates were released, it would often make headlines in newspapers — ‘Jobs were given based on money and recommendations’. In contrast, the current government has provided government jobs to around 1,77,000 eligible youths over the past 10 years, purely based on merit, without any nepotism, regionalism, or corruption.”
Tearing into the Congress’s claim that “more BPL cards are being made in Haryana”, the chief minister said, “If BPL cards are being made in the state illegally, then it will be investigated. However, during the Congress regime, rich families would get BPL based on recommendations and the poor were deprived.”
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Noting that in the past 10 years, the state government brought a change in the method of estimating the number of families Below the Poverty Line (BPL), the chief minister said, “The government included all families with an annual income up to Rs 1.80 lakh in the BPL category instead of the previous limit of Rs 1.20 lakh. Thus, about 32 lakh families with annual income of Rs 1.20 lakh to Rs 1.80 lakh were included in the BPL list. These poor families got a chance to avail government benefits for the first time.”
Saini said to provide better living conditions to the citizens, the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) would develop Sectors 14-16 and 22 at the Kot Billa Urban Complex in Panchkula and Sector 23 in Pinjore-Kalka as pilot projects in the first phase.
“The state government helped the HSVP come out of losses. It is now acquiring land for urban development in 41 sectors (at different places). The land acquisition will be done through the e-Bhoomi portal or the land pooling policy,” said Saini.
The chief minister alleged that during the Congress rule, there was no roadmap for developing colonies, and anyone could cut colonies anywhere, leading to the development of illegal colonies.
“In contrast, the present state government has maintained full control over illegal colonies. The government also regularised colonies which were developed during the previous government. During the 10 years of the Congress rule, 874 colonies were regularised, and thousands of colonies were spread, but the present state government regularised 2,147 colonies,” Saini said.
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Saini said the government was taking necessary action against illegal colonies regularly, including demolishing illegal colonies and taking action against violators. “Since January 2015, as many as 6,904 such colonies have been identified, and 3,937 colonies covering 26,650 acres have been demolished. Besides this, action is being taken against 1,879 violators,” the chief minister added.
