Unemployment remains over 7 pct in India as Modi instructs to create more jobs

NEW DELHI, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The unemployment rate in India improved to 7.12 percent in May, from 7.83 percent in April, revealed the data provided by the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

According to the report, the unemployment rate in urban parts of the country in May stood at 8.21 percent while it was 6.62 in the rural areas.

On June 13, the jobless rate in the country stood at 7.27 percent (7.81 in urban and 7.02 in rural areas), the CMIE data revealed further.

The northern state of Haryana recorded the highest rate of unemployment at 24.6 percent in May, followed by Rajasthan (22.2 percent), Tripura (17.4 percent) and Delhi (13.6 percent).

Meanwhile, in a bid to address the growing concerns over rising unemployment in the country, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday directed government departments and ministries to recruit 1 million people in the next one-and-a-half years.

According to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the direction came after a review of the status of human resources in all government departments and ministries.

The federal government's decision to provide a million jobs came amid the opposition parties' frequent criticism about the issue of unemployment over the past few months.

A large number of vacant posts in different government sectors has often been flagged by several quarters of the society.

Even the country's main ruling party, Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) lawmaker Varun Gandhi last month raised the issue of unemployment, saying that over 6 million jobs sanctioned in central and state governments departments were lying vacant.

"While the youth are disappointed over non-availability of vacancies, the government data claims there are 6 million vacant posts," the lawmaker tweeted a screenshot claiming to be of sector-wise vacant posts.