Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that the 2024 election manifesto of his Bharatiya Janata Party focuses on creating jobs and boosting startups in the country.
India begins voting on April 19 in general elections that will be held in seven stages until June 1. Votes are due to be counted on June 4 and results expected the same day.
Unemployment and inflation are the main concerns of Indian voters but Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s strong leadership, his party’s Hindu nationalist agenda and India’s rising global stature will likely help his re-election bid, a survey shows.
The findings illustrate that benefits of India’s world beating growth are not evenly spread for its 1.4 billion people as the creation of jobs, despite Modi’s domestic manufacturing push over the last 10 years, is still a challenge.
Unemployment was the primary concern of 27% of the 10,000 voters surveyed by Lokniti-CSDS across 19 of India’s 28 states, with rising prices coming second at 23%.
India is the world’s fastest growing major economy and its fifth-largest. But nearly two thirds, or 62% of those surveyed, said finding jobs had become more difficult in the last five years – Modi’s second term as prime minister.
The unemployment rate rose to 5.4% in 2022/23, from 4.9% in 2013/14 just before Modi swept to power, and nearly 16% of urban youth in the 15-29 years age group remained unemployed in 2022/23 due to poor skills and a lack of quality jobs, official data shows.
