NEW DELHI, Oct 22: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the “Rozgar Mela” on Saturday to recruit 10 lakh people and underscored his government’s efforts to create jobs in the last eight years amid the opposition’s constant criticism of it on the issue of unemployment.
In his address after more than 75,000 people were given appointment letters for various government jobs in the first tranche, Modi acknowledged the challenges facing the economy the world over with many countries hit by a record inflation and unemployment and said India is making every effort to come out of the situation unscathed.
“It is a fact that the global scenario is not very good. Several large economies are struggling. In many countries, problems such as inflation and unemployment are at their peak,” he said.
No one thinks that the side-effects of the once-in-a-century COVID-19 pandemic will go away in 100 days, the prime minister said, adding that the crisis is grave and global, causing adverse effects all around.
“Despite this, India is taking new initiatives and some risks to shield our country from being affected by these problems. It is a challenging job, but with your blessings, we have been protected till now,” he said, adding that it was made possible as his government dealt with the shortcomings that were a hindrance to the economy.
The efficiency of the government departments has increased manifold and India has now leapt from being the 10th biggest economy to occupy the fifth spot in the world in the last eight years, Modi said.
In his speech to the new appointees, Modi cited numerous measures taken by the government, including the push to the manufacturing, infrastructure and tourism sectors, to boost employment opportunities.
Unemployment has been a major plank of the opposition in several state elections as it has accused the government of failing to create adequate employment opportunities.
The government has rejected the claim, with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) citing its victories in most of the poll contests to counter the charge.
Modi cited the record amount of loan given under the “Mudra” scheme, which funds prospective entrepreneurs, and noted that the assistance to the tune of more than Rs 3 lakh crore during the pandemic helped avert a crisis to over 1.5 crore jobs in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector.
He said the Centre is working on multiple fronts to create maximum job opportunities for youngsters and asserted that the “Rozgar Mela” is an important milestone in the efforts to create employment and self-employment in the last eight years.
The government is also working to boost agriculture, MSME and other sectors with a stress on upgrading the skills of youngsters. More than 1.25 crore people have been trained under Skill India, the prime minister said.
Modi had directed various ministries and departments in June to recruit more than 10 lakh people in the next 18 months.
Though his government has been generating employment for eight years, keeping in mind the 75th year of independence, it was decided that the Centre will give appointment letters to 75,000 youngsters on Saturday, the prime minister said.
“We decided that a tradition of giving appointment letters in one go should be started so that a collective temperament of completing projects in a time-bound manner develops in the departments,” he said, explaining the rationale behind the “Rozgar Mela”.
Initiatives such as liberalising the drone policy, opening up the space policy and loans worth Rs 20 lakh crore under the Mudra scheme have further boosted the employment opportunities, Modi said.
“Never before a self-employment programme of this magnitude was implemented in the county,” he added.
For the first time in the country, the worth of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has crossed Rs 4 lakh crore and more than four crore jobs have been created in the sector, he said.
The Start-Up India campaign has shown the potential of the youngsters, the prime minister pointed out, adding that the MGNREGA employment scheme has benefitted seven crore people in the country.
The most ambitious projects for the country in the 21st century have been “Make in India” and “Aatmanirbhar Bharat”, he said, adding that India is moving from being an importer to an exporter in many sectors.
“The government is working comprehensively in the manufacturing and tourism sectors as both have a huge employment potential,” Modi said, citing the PLI scheme to give incentives on a production basis.
Its results are already visible in many sectors, he said.
The prime minister noted that about 17 lakh people joined the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in August and have now become a part of the country’s formal economy. He said about eight lakh of these people are in the 18-25 age group.
Modi also cited the emphasis on building roads, ports, airports and laying railway tracks to assert that the infrastructure sector has been a big source of employment generation.
“More than three crore houses have also been built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana,” he added.
The country has a target of spending more than Rs 100 lakh crore to boost infrastructure, the prime minister said.
He urged the new appointees to always keep their “kartavya path” (duties) in mind.
“You are being appointed for the service of the citizens of the country. A government job is not about facilities but a commitment and a golden opportunity to serve people,” he said.
The new recruits, selected from across the country, will join 38 ministries or departments of the Government of India. They will join the government at various levels in Group A and B (gazetted), Group B (non-gazetted) and Group C.
The posts on which the appointments are being made include those of the central armed forces personnel, sub-inspectors, constables, LDCs, stenographers, PAs, income tax inspectors and MTS, according to a statement issued by the government.
More than 50 Union ministers handed over appointment letters to thousands of youngsters at different locations across the country.
With the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls round the corner, the BJP believes that the major employment exercise will give it a boost and blunt the opposition’s attack on it.
According to the latest annual report of the Department of Expenditure on Pay and Allowances, the total number of regular central government civilian employees in position (including in the Union territories) as on March 1, 2020 was 31.91 lakh, as against the sanctioned strength of 40.78 lakh, and approximately 21.75 per cent of the posts were vacant.
The latest data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said India’s unemployment rate dropped to 6.43 per cent in September due to an increase in labour participation in the rural and urban areas.
In August, India’s unemployment rate had surged to a one-year high of 8.3 per cent as employment sequentially fell by 2 million (20 lakh) to 394.6 million, the data said. (Agencies)

Tezpur (Assam) , Oct 22: With the recovery of the fifth and last body, the search and rescue mission in the October 21 helicopter crash in Arunachal Pradesh has concluded, Army spokesperson said on Saturday.
The Indian army and Air Force Saturday ended searches after the mortal remains of fifth army personnel, on board the advanced light helicopter (AHL) that crashed on Friday was retrieved, the Public Relation Officer (PRO) (Tezpur) said today.
As per reports, three columns of army personnel were conducting the operation on foot, while one MI17 and two ALH choppers were pressed into service to trace the personnel.
The Indian Army Aviation Advance Light Helicopter (Weapon Systems Integrated) – ALH WSI based at Likabali (Assam), with five personnel on board had on Friday crashed at 10:43 am near Singging village, 25 kilometres away from the Tuting headquarters in the Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh on Friday.
The chopper had taken off from Likabali in the Lower Siang district.
Earlier the defence PRO had said that the mortal remains of the four military personnel were recovered and one was reported missing in the crash.
A court of inquiry constituted to probe the crash will focus on the ‘May Day’ call received by Air Traffic Control (ATC) suggesting a technical or mechanical failure on the chopper, officials said.
“Prior to the crash, the Air Traffic Control (ATC) had received a MAY DAY call suggesting a technical or mechanical failure,” the release said. “This will form the focus of the Court of Inquiry, which has been immediately constituted to investigate the causes of the accident,” read a statement by the Defence PRO.
Previously on October 5 this year, an Indian Army pilot died in a Cheetah helicopter crash near the Tawang area of Arunachal Pradesh. (Agencies)

NEW DELHI, Oct 22: The Congress on Saturday, October 22, 2022, termed the government’s ‘Rozgar Mela’ as “eventbaazi” by the “jumla king”, asking when would the promised 16 crore jobs be provided to the youth of the country.
Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to provide two crore jobs every year while assuming power which has not been provided in the last eight years.
He said the Bharat Jodo Yatra has merely moved in four states and the government “had to admit” that unemployment is the biggest problem the country faces.
“At least, the ‘jumla king’ was forced to admit that unemployment is the biggest problem the country and the youth face,” he said in a tweet in Hindi, terming it as the biggest achievement of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
“No Eventbaazi, provide employment,” he said.
‘Will continue to question PM’
He said Prime Minister Modi should tell “by when would you provide 16 crore jobs as you had promised to provide two crore jobs every year in the last eight years”.
“By when would these 16 crore jobs be provided and by when would 30 lakh vacancies in government departments be filled up. The Prime Minister would have to answer the youth of the country,” he said in a video put out on Twitter.
Mr. Surjewala said the Congress would continue to ask questions from the Prime Minister on when the promised jobs would be provided.
“Things would not move by giving merely 70,000 appointment letters and the youth of the country want jobs and the prime minister would have to answer them. Rahul Gandhi and the Congress would continue to raise this question from the prime minister during the Bharat Jodo Yatra,” he said.
Prime Minister Modi on Saturday launched the Rozgar Mela drive to recruit 10 lakh people. He said the government is working towards softening the blow of the economic problems faced by several countries across the world in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fifty Union Ministers will be handing over appointment letters to nearly 20,000 people at different locations across the country under the recruitment drive. (Agencies)

NEW DELHI, October 22 : Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh, said here today that the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) is committed to meet the target of 10 lakh government jobs in next few months, as directed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Dr Jitendra Singh, who is also Minister-Incharge DoPT, was delivering his welcome-cum-introductory address at the launch of “Rozgar Mela” at which Prime Minister Modi issued 75,000 appointment letters as the first instalment of recruitment to 10 lakh government jobs.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, right from the beginning, Prime Minister Modi has given highest priority to the issues and concerns related to youth. He said, the Prime Minister has constantly sought to create new avenues and opportunities for livelihood, government jobs and income for the youth.
Dr Jitendra Singh recalled that it was Prime Minister Modi who, in his Independence Day address of 2015, gave a call for “StartUp India StandUp India”, which soon turned into a countrywide movement. The result of this is that now the number of StartUps in India has gone up from 300 to 400 in 2014 to more than 75,000 today and India ranks third in the world in StartUp ecosystem, he added.
It was again Prime Minister Modi, said Dr Jitendra Singh, who had, a few months ago, promised the nation that he would soon provide 10 lakh government jobs for the youth. Once again, the Minister said, it is evident that Prime Minister Modi does what he says and he has the capacity to make everything “Mumkin” (possible).
Dr Jitendra Singh said, the 75,000 appointment letters issued today cover nearly all the Ministries and departments in the government and their beneficiaries are spread across all the States and Union Territories of the country. He hoped that these young new recruits in the government will have the opportunity to contribute in the process of national building over the next 25 years to realise the dream of Century India in 2047.
While promising that the next instalment of appointment letters to meet the 10 lakh government jobs target will be released soon, Dr Jitendra Singh noted that today’s lot released by Prime Minister covers government posts at all levels including Grade-A, Grade-B (Gazetted), Grade -B (Non-Gazetted) and Grade-C.

NEW DELHI, Oct 22: The world should remain clear that Pakistan must continue to take “credible, verifiable and irreversible” action against terrorism, India said on Friday after anti-money laundering watchdog FATF removed the neighbouring country from its ‘grey list’.
The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) took off Pakistan from a list of countries under increased monitoring, also known as the ‘grey list’.
“It is in global interest that the world remains clear that Pakistan must continue to take credible, verifiable, irreversible and sustained action against terrorism and terrorist financing emanating from territories under its control,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
He was replying to media queries on the issue.
“As a result of FATF scrutiny, Pakistan has been forced to take some action against well-known terrorists, including those involved in attacks against the entire international community in Mumbai on 26/11,” Bagchi said.
“We understand that Pakistan will continue to work with the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) to further improve its Anti Money Laundering (AML) /Counter Terror Financing (CFT) system,” he added.

Pakistan has been taken off the ‘grey list’ in the wake of Islamabad’s “high level political commitment” in dealing with the menace and carrying out reforms in its existing monitoring mechanism, according to the watchdog.

The decision was taken by the FATF in its plenary held in Paris on October 20-21.
Later at a virtual press conference, FATF president T Raja Kumar, who is from Singapore, said Pakistan has largely addressed all the 34 items given by the FATF.
However, he said, Pakistan still needs to continue to work in this regard and the FATF encourages Pakistan to cooperate with the FATF’s Asia Pacific Group to combat financial terrorism and money laundering. (Agencies)

NEW DELIH, Oct 22: India saw a single-day rise of 2,112 new infections raising the COVID-19 tally to 4,46,40,748, while the number of active cases declined to 24,043, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday.
The death toll climbed to 5,28,957 with four fatalities which includes three deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated. One death has been reported from West Bengal in a span of 24 hours.
The active cases comprise 0.05 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 98.76 per cent, the health ministry said.
A decrease of 994 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 case count in a span of 24 hours.

The number of active cases stood at 25,037 on Friday.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.01 per cent. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 0.97 per cent, according to the health ministry.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,40,87,748, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.18 per cent.
According to the ministry, 219.53 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.
India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020; 30 lakh on August 23; 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28; 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29; 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed one crore on December 19.

India crossed the grim milestone of two crore coronavirus cases on May 4, three crore on June 23 last year and four crore on January 25 this yea

After a political row erupted over the former Union Home Minister and Congress veteran Shivraj Patil’s controversial remark that the concept of ‘jihad’ finds mention not only in the Quran but in the Bhagwad Gita and in Christianity as well, the Congress on Friday disassociated itself from the latter’s remarks and called it “unacceptable”.

At a book launch event in the national capital on Thursday, Shivraj Patil said that Lord Krishna also taught lessons of jihad to Arjun in a part of Gita in the Mahabharat inviting controversy. He also claimed that the concept of ‘jihad’ finds mention not only in the Quran but in the Bhagwad Gita and in Christianity as well.

Taking to Twitter, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Friday shared an excerpt from Jawaharlal Nehru’s “Discovery of India” where the former PM talks about Geeta’s ‘universality’.

“My senior colleague Shivraj Patil reportedly made some comments on Bhagavad Gita that’s unacceptable. Subsequently, he clarified. @INCIndia’s stand is clear. Bhagavad Gita is a key foundational pillar of Indian civilisation. Here’s an excerpt from Nehru’s Discovery of India(p110),” Jairam Ramesh said.
In another tweet, the Congress leader said, “Incidentally, I learned Bhagavad Gita in my early teens and have had a life-long fascination with it as a cultural and philosophical text, with a profound influence on Indian society over the ages. I wrote about this in my book The Light of Asia: The Poem that defined the Buddha.”

“It’s said there is a lot of discussion on Jihad in Islam religion… Even after all efforts, if someone doesn’t understand clean ideas, then power can be used. It is not just in the Quran Sharif, but also in the Mahabharata of which Gita is a part,” Patil said.

“Shri Krishna also talks to Arjuna about jihad. It is not like this is only in the Quran Sharif or the Gita but in Christianity also it is written…Christ has said that I have not come here to establish peace but I have come here with sword,” Patil said.

Speaking in Hindi, the Congress leader said that “if even after explaining everything, people do not understand and they are arriving with weapons then you cannot run, you cannot call that jihad and you cannot call it wrong, this is what must be understood, there should not be this concept of making people understand with weapons in hand.”

Patil’s remarks have drawn flak from the BJP which has hit out at the Congress for “Hindu hatred” and “vote-bank politics.”

Patil who was Union Home Minister from 2004 to 2008 and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 1991 to 1996 was addressing the audience at a book launch of Congress leader and former Union Minister Mohsina Kidwai. Among the other dignitaries present at the launch were Shashi Tharoor, Digvijaya Singh, Farooq Abdullah and Sushil Kumar Shinde.

We lost Major Mustafa Bohra in Rudra Helicopter crash in Arunachal Pradesh yesterday! He hailed from Udaipur , Rajasthan