Haryana: Opposition, Manohar Lal Khattar slug it out over unemployment data

Tribune News Service

Geetanjali Gayatri

Chandigarh, March 21

Amidst the Opposition quoting the “high” unemployment rate reported by different agencies in Haryana, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar maintained that the state’s unemployment graph was continuously declining and the latest report pegged it at 6.46 per cent.

Fluctuating numbers

• Quoting PLFS figures, Congress MLA Chiranjeev Rao said that the unemployment rate in Haryana stood at 9.3 per cent
• Rao claimed CMIE data showed that it was 29.4 per cent
• Khattar, armed with the latest government figures, said it had come down to 6.46 per cent in Feb

Answering a question during the ongoing Budget session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha by Congress MLA Chiranjeev Rao on whether or not unemployment had increased in the past eight years, Khattar said that not only had it come down but was also lower in comparison to the unemployment rate in the previous government’s rule.

Quoting the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) figures tabled in the House as part of the reply to his question, Rao said that the unemployment rate in Haryana stood at 9.3 per cent.

However, Khattar, armed with the latest government figures, said the unemployment rate in the state had come down to 6.46% in February. Rao claimed that the CMIE (Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy) data showed that the unemployment rate in Haryana was 29.4%.

Adding that there were 10,000 applicants for six posts of peon in Panipat, Rao said, “The applicants were post-graduates and this shows the ground situation. The CM had recently given a statement that if CMIE does not stop giving ‘wrong’ data, then action will be initiated against them. If the government really believes that the data is not authentic, action should be taken since it is bringing a bad name to the state.”

In his reply, Khattar said that the unemployment rate was 8.7% in 2009-10. It came down to 7.86% in December 2014 and went further down to 6.46% this year. He stated that the CMIE data the Congress quoted was “unreliable” given the small sample size of 5,000 for a population of 1.8 crore taken by the agency. “The data by the CMIE fluctuates very rapidly. Sometimes, it says this rate is 34 per cent. Then, it shows a drop of 10 per cent within one month. Further, a member of the CMIE was a part of the Congress manifesto committee which explains the situation,” he stated, taking a dig at the Congress.

The CM said that the RBI also releases such data every year. According to the RBI, the unemployment rate is 8.1%.

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