NEW DELHI – Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed over employment letters to 75,000 people at a virtual event on Saturday as he looks to tackle India’s soaring unemployment less than two years ahead of a national poll and key state elections due in the next few months. 

“Central government is working on multiple fronts simultaneously to create more and more jobs,” Modi said at the virtual event, connecting several cities across the country where his ministers were handing out appointment letters to the youth.

The event is a part of Modi’s vow to provide one million government jobs by end of 2023. In June, the prime minister instructed ministries and departments to fill up existing job vacancies.

Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is headed to the ballot in his home state of Gujarat and in northern Himachal Pradesh later this year amid continuing discontent over unemployment and high inflation.

General elections are also due to take place in the first half of 2024.

Modi is under pressure to show he’s making progress on his election promise of creating millions of jobs. The country has seen sporadic violence over unemployment after angry youth blocked rail traffic, highways and set a train on fire over a military recruitment plan.

The BJP has been widely criticised for not filling a large number of vacancies in government departments. Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition Congress party, has been highlighting joblessness in a nationwide march that kicked off last month. 

Data from private research firm the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy shows the unemployment rate has stayed above 6.5 per cent since October 2021.

The country added just one million jobs in the formal sector in 2021. It recruited just 0.3 per cent of the candidates who applied for permanent government jobs in the last eight years, highlighting the unemployment crisis.

BLOOMBERG