The government failed to anticipate and tackle the acute distress in rural India, P Chidambaram said. (File Photo)
The Congress today questioned the BJP-led NDA government for its "failure to create jobs" during its two-year rule and said that the Narendra Modi-led government's record in agriculture was dismal.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, in a press conference in New Delhi on completion of two years of the NDA government, said, "Growth was negative at -0.2 per cent in 2014-15 and a meagre 1.1 per cent in 2015-16."
The government failed to anticipate and tackle the acute distress in rural India, he said.
"Where are the jobs? The most notable failure of the NDA government has been in job creation," the Congress leader said.
"The ferment in universities can be partly attributed to the bleak future faced by university graduates. Besides, there are millions of young people who will complete no more than 8 or 10 years of school education and will have no special skills. Where are the jobs for them," Mr Chidambaram said.
He further said, "There is little to cheer in the GDP numbers. There is a growing dichotomy between the GDP numbers and the other economic indicators."
"If calculated under the methodology of the old series, the estimate for 2015-16 would be about 5 per cent and not 7.6 per cent. The average citizens need jobs and incomes. They do not consume GDP numbers," he added.