The RSS on Sunday flagged issues of poverty, unemployment and rising inequality in the country and batted for creating a robust environment for entrepreneurship so that job seekers become job providers.
“The poverty in the country is standing like a demon in front of us. It is important that we slay this demon. That 20 crore people are still below poverty line is a figure that should make us very sad. As many as 23 crore people have less than Rs 375 income per day. There are four crore unemployed people in the country. The labour force survey says we have an unemployment rate of 7.6%,” RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale said during a webinar organised by RSS-affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch as part of its Swawalambi Bharat Abhiyan.
Hosabale said that another major issue was the rising economic inequality. “One figure says that India is among the top six economies of the world. But is this a good situation? Top 1 per cent of India’s population has one-fifth (20%) of the nation’s income. At the same time, 50% of the country’s population has only 13% of the country’s income,” Hosabale said.
The statements come at a time when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is on a Bharat Jodo Yatra, has been raising issues of unemployment, inflation and economic inequality in his interactions. Even otherwise, including in Parliament, Rahul often talks of there being “two Indias”, of which one is getting richer by the day and the other is being pushed below the poverty line.
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