CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on January 31

THE latest National Sample Survey Organisation’s data that has been withheld by the Modi government has shown that unemployment in India post-demonetisation has reached a four-decade high. The rate of joblessness among the rural males in the age group of 15-29 years jumped more than three times to 17.4 per cent in 2017-18 compared to 5 per cent in 2011-12. Unemployment rate of rural female youth stood at 13.6 per cent compared to 4.8 per cent in the same period. High levels of unemployment were registered for the educated youth both rural and urban.

It is clear that the Modi government has been suppressing this information from reaching the public domain. This has resulted in two members of the National Statistical Commission, a statutory body which releases the NSSO reports, resigning. This includes the acting chairman. This leaves just two members of the seven that the NSC is supposed to have. Earlier the Modi government refused to release the Labour Bureau’s annual survey of 2016-17.

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. It also exposes the utter failure of the BJP-led government to deliver on its promise of providing two crore jobs every year ie, ten crore new jobs during the last five years. 

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) demands that all data must 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.