Unemployment is a major hurdle in India’s growth path. One key election promise of the BJP government in 2014 was job creation. Criticising the UPA government for failing to provide employment, the BJP ganifesto (2014) stated that “The country has been dragged through 10 years of jobless growth by the Congress-led UPA government. Under the broader economic revival, BJP will accord high priority to job creation and opportunities for entrepreneurship.”
Though reducing unemployment was a major goals of the BJP government, data shows that it has not been able to fulfill its promise of job creation. As per the Economic Survey (2015-16), the rate of unemployment has increased from 3.8% (2011-12) to 5% (2015-16). Additionally, in 2015 only 1.35 lakh jobs were added in eight labor intensive sectors, compared to 9.3 lakh jobs that were added in 2011-12.