Suppressing data admission of guilt by government: CPI-M

The CPI-M on Thursday said that the suppression of employment-related data by the Narendra Modi government is an admission of guilt, and demanded that the data must be placed in Parliament and discussed.

"This suppression of data is a clear admission on the part of the Modi government that its policies have resulted in greater misery for our people. India's youth, which is our asset, is now being wasted," the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) said.

"It also exposes the utter failure of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government to deliver on its promise of providing two crore jobs every year, which translates to 10 crore new jobs during the last five years," it added.

The leaked National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO)'s data showed that unemployment rate in India stood at a 45-year high during 2017-18.

The report, which the government had withheld from being released and was accessed by Business Standard newspaper, said the unemployment rate was 6.1 per cent in 2017-18, post-demonetisation, and was at its highest level since 1972-73 -- the period since when the jobs data is comparable.

Two members of the National Statistical Commission (NSC) resigned in protest on Tuesday over suppression of this data.

The CPI-M said that in a similar manner, the Modi government refused to release the Labour Bureau's annual survey of 2016-17.

"The CPI-M demands that all data be released immediately. These must be placed and discussed in the Parliament. The people of the country have a right to know about the grim realities facing them," it said.

--IANS

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