Bhopal: Five years ago when Jitendra Singh, a BCom graduate and part-time accountant, cast his ballot for the first time he was hopeful that his vote will bring about a change.
He hoped that the new government will take measures to counter the rising unemployment in the state. His hopes, however, were dashed.
“I had to leave the law firm where I was working. The firm had decided to take the services of a reputed company following changes in taxation policy and the introduction of GST. Now, I manage the accounts of a hardware-cum-tiles workshop twice a week,” he said.
While the central governments boasts of how several programmes have brought tectonic changes to the job scene in India, the reality is far different and one needn't go too far from the nation's capital, or its big metros to learn the whole story.
There are about 15 million unemployed youths in Madhya Pradesh. Like Singh, 88 per cent of them are well-educated but unable to find any jobs. In past three years, the state has witnessed 53 per cent rise in unemployment. While employment exchanges offer some respite, they are unable to accommodate the high number of youths looking for jobs. About 1 million youths have registered with employment exchanges in 2015 alone.
When Congress came into power in the state at the end of 2018, chief minister Kamal Nath had announced a 100-day job guarantee scheme for the urban youths. While this has certainly changed the atmosphere in the state, it's the loan waiver scheme that has borne fruits. The benefits of the agri-loan waiver scheme have already started reaching the accounts of farmers. According to an affidavit submitted by the Union of India to the Supreme Court on July 6, 2017, around 1,290 farmers committed suicide in 2015 in MP. This has been drastically reduced since the regime change. There were only seven farmer suicides reported in the state since the new government took charge in November 2018.
“When the Congress came to power, the state coffers were empty. Madhya Pradesh was number one in the country in farmer suicides, unemployment and rape. We have taken steps to not only strengthen our economy but have also waived off Rs 10,000 crore worth farm loans,” Kamal Nath claimed. Under his governance, 50 per cent of farmers have had their loans waived under the Jai Kisan Loan Waiver scheme,” Kamal Nath said.
Congress has also announced that they will be implementing a 10 per cent quota for people from economically weaker sections in general category, and increase in reservation for the other backward categories from 14 per cent to 27 per cent. Through these decisions, the Congress appears to have made a well-planned effort to eat into BJP's traditional vote base comprising general category and OBC voters. These segments constitute above 65% of the state's population.
These moves may help Congress increase its tally from 3 to over a dozen MPs from the state in 2019. The state sends 29 MPs to the Parliament.
In addition to this, the Congress had also played the communal card by announcing sops for Hindu voters as well. Recently, it had sent pilgrims to visit Kumbh Mela in Paryagraj, increased honorarium of priests by three times, made announcements to create thousand gau shalas in the state, and introduced a procedure for appointment and replacement of pujaris in government-managed devstans.
This revival of Congress party in Madhya Pradesh is expected to dent BJP's morale in the LS polls.
