Strides have also been made in the gaming industry, the PM said
Dynastic opposition parties are so disconnected from the youth that they have not been able to fathom the changes that are taking place, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said.
In an exclusive interview with NDTV's Editor-in-Chief Sanjay Pugalia, the PM spoke on a range of issues, including his roadmap for the future, focus on infrastructure, the BJP's prospects in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, and foreign policy.
Answering the opposition's allegations on unemployment, the Prime Minister said many new avenues of employment generation have been created under his government and data from various sources also belies the claims of his critics.
Pointing to all the infrastructure projects carried out by his government, the PM said in Hindi, "The first thing to know is that so much work cannot be done without manpower. Just spending money does not mean a road is built or work on the electrification of the railways is carried out. You need manpower for that. Which means employment opportunities are created. I can't see any issue or truth in the opposition's talk of unemployment."
"I believe dynastic parties can't understand the changes that are taking place among the youth. Before 2014, there were only a few hundred startups and now there are 1.25 lakh such companies. Each startup employs many bright youngsters. There are 100 unicorns as well, which means business worth Rs 8 lakh crore. And these are people in the age group of 20-25, they are our sons and daughters," he added.
Strides have also been made in the gaming arena, the PM said, adding that India will be a leader in the field and young people between the ages of 20 and 22 years will show the way. Another emerging area, he stressed, is the shift from an entertainment economy to a creative economy and said he firmly believes India's creators will capture a significant share of the global market.
"Green jobs are also being created. Look at the aviation sector. There were 70 airports, now there are 150. My estimate is that the total number of aircraft in the country is 600-700 and an order has been placed for 1,000 new planes. Can anyone even imagine how many kinds of people will get employment? Therefore, this narrative is being peddled by people in politics who only know how things were 30 years ago and are talking about the same things," he said.
'Unemployment Halved'
Using numbers to back up his claims, Prime Minister Modi cited data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) and said it had shown that unemployment has been halved.
"The PLFS data also states that 6 crore new jobs have been generated in six to seven years. The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation has also said the same thing. I ran a big campaign for government jobs as well, and these people (the opposition) keep shouting about employment," he said.
Referring to a report released by the SKOCH group, PM Modi asserted, "It said 5 crore person-years of employment have been generated every year for the past 10 years. And they have used 22 parameters to say this. It's backed up by research. All of this can be seen on the ground as well, it isn't restricted to data alone."
The Prime Minister is eyeing a historic third straight term in office and has set an ambitious target of winning 370 Lok Sabha seats for the BJP and over 400 for the NDA. Four phases of the ongoing election have been completed and the fifth is on Monday.