BSP chief Mayawati on Sunday asked the Central government ministers to apologise for their alleged claims that there is no dearth of job opportunities in the country but there is a lack of qualification among north Indian candidates.
"After the hilarious statements by the Central ministers regarding the period of economic slowdown and other problems, rather than solving the problem of unemployment in the nation, particularly in the northern region, it is shameful that some of them have stated that there is a lack of qualification for which an apology should be issued to the nation," Mayawati's tweet in Hindi reads.
Mayawati's statement comes a day later after Union Minister Santosh Gangwar said that there is a lack of qualifications among North Indian candidates, while there is no dearth of opportunities.
"I want to say that there is no dearth of job opportunities in the country. Those who come for recruitment in north India often complain that they are unable to find the quality in candidates required for the post they are hiring for," said Gangwar, MoS (Independent Charge), Ministry of Labour and Employment, while addressing a press conference here on Saturday.
"I am looking after the same ministry and I monitor the situation on a daily basis. There is no dearth of employment in the country. We have employment exchanges for the purpose and we have also developed a separate system. Our ministry monitors the situation," Gangwar added.
Gangwar's statement came at a time when the economy slumped to a seven-year low of 5 per cent in April to June quarter from 8 per cent a year ago. The economic slowdown coupled with employment has raised concern among economists and politicians who are holding the Centre responsible for it.
The slowdown was largely due to a sharp dip in the manufacturing sector and agriculture output, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation had said in a statement.
Gangwar, however, later issued a clarification stating that he had made the statement in the context of giving skill training to the youth.
"I had spoken that in a different context. I said there is a lack of skill and our government has started a Skill Development Ministry to assure that the youths are given training as per the requirements of the job. That is how the work is going on," Gangwar told on Sunday.
Earlier today, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale also said that the growing unemployment in the country was due to the use of the new technology.
"These days the people are unemployed because of the new technology. Earlier 1,000 people used to work in a factory. Now 200 are operating it," Athawale told .
( With inputs from ANI )