NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said India is taking several initiatives to cushion the impact of global economic challenges, while maintaining that the steps, as well as risks, taken by the government over the past few years have helped avert a major crisis.
Handing over the first set of appointment letters at a ‘Rozgar Mela‘ here, the PM said the process of recruitment in the government had been simplified and several NDA-governed states as well Union territories will soon launch a hiring drive to fill up vacancies.
The Rozgar Mela is the first in a series of such events as the government prepares to rapidly ramp up its recruitment drive to fill up 10 lakh vacancies by the summer of 2024, which will also coincide with the general elections. Modi had announced the move in June, following which government agencies simplified their recruitment process to meet targets in mission mode.
The PM’s emphasis on the initiatives on the economy as well as the jobs front has come amid repeated attacks by opposition parties.

The thrust on government hiring also comes amid a fear of a slowdown driven by the current geopolitical tensions and unusually high inflation in the developed world, just when the global economy was recovering from the effects of the Covid-19 crisis.
“It is true that the global situation is not good and some of the largest economies are struggling with it. There is widespread inflation, unemployment and several problems are at their peak. We don’t believe that the effects of the biggest crisis in 100 years will vanish in 100 days… It is a massive challenge. It’s global and its adverse impact is everywhere. But India is steadfastly battling it with new initiatives and is also taking a little risk to ensure that the impact on India is minimal. We have managed to escape the effects so far due to your blessings and cooperation and our efforts to remove the hurdles to growth over the last eight years,” Modi said.
Since 2014, the government has sought to address tax-related issues through the introduction of GST, lower corporation tax as well as doing away with retrospective taxation, while also putting in place a new bankruptcy law. “We are creating an environment to empower agriculture, the private sector and micro and small enterprises, which are the largest employers,” the prime minister said, while listing out several measures – from skilling to startups and the manufacturing and infrastructure push. He suggested that the emphasis on creating jobs was not a new initiative as the government had taken a series of steps over the last seven to eight years and it was working on multiple fronts to increase employment opportunities.
“Over the last eight years too employment letters have been issued to lakhs of youth but this time we have decided to start the tradition of giving them together so that government departments complete the process in a time bound manner. This will result in collective spirit and effort,” the PM said.