Unemployment is a social issue, not economic: ABVP leader Sunil Ambekar

Unemployment in India is not an economic but a social issue and will remain a problem till the dignity of labour does not get the recognition, a senior RSS functionary said on Thursday.

"It is a social issue. Till we don't have the dignity of labour, you can't give the job to everyone. In our country, it is not an economic issue but a social issue," said Sunil Ambekar, National Organising Secretary of ABVP, the students' wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Ambedkar was interacting with a group of select journalists and was responding to a query on unemployment as an issue among youths.

Ambekar said that it was not possible for any government to provide government jobs as these are limited.

"In the US, if someone cleans ice from cars, his work is seen as an act of dignity. Here if we look only for government jobs, it is not possible for everyone to get one. There is no shortage of jobs in the country," he said.

Referring to the controversy over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks that selling "pakoda" is also a job, Ambekar said that it became a joke because there is no dignity of labour in the country.

"Isn't selling pakoda a job," he asked.

"A chef becomes a celebrity and appears on the front page of newspapers. After all, he too makes pakoda. But someone who makes pakoda on streets becomes a subject of jokes," he said.

The RSS leader said the ABVP would work to remove this stigma.

"There are ample opportunities in agriculture sector with the advent of new technologies," he said.

Ambedkar's remarks come at a time when the Modi government is under attack from the opposition parties on the issue of rising unemployment in the country.