Jyotiraditya Scindia_750

Mumbai: “Berozgari mein Madhya Pradesh aval. Yuva kar rahe atmahatya. Pradesh bhar mein 1 crore se adhik yuva berozgaar ” (Madhya Pradesh tops in unemployment. The youth are committing suicide. More than 1 crore youngsters are unemployed in the state).

These were the claims made by Jyotiraditya Scindia, Congress leader and campaign committee chairman, ahead of the upcoming Madhya Pradesh (MP) elections, on October 18, 2018.

Claim: More than one crore (10 million) young people are unemployed in the state.

Fact: Unclear: Official data show that there are 1.12 million registered (unemployed youth seeking jobs from employment exchanges run by the state) educated unemployed people in the state while activists dispute the claim.

The MP government had changed the definition from ‘unemployed’ to ‘job seeker’ due to which the number of unemployed has come down, said Akshay Hunka, convenor, Berozgaar Sena (Army of Unemployed), who claimed around one crore youth are unemployed.

“Even under the employment exchange programme, we have found that from 10 unemployed people, only 2-3 people register and about seven do not register,” Hunka said.

The MP government’s employee portal had reported 2.4 million as unemployed in February, which dropped to 1.4 million in October, The Times of India reported on October 17, 2018.

Claim: Madhya Pradesh tops in unemployment.

Fact: False. In 2015-16, Madhya Pradesh had an unemployment rate of 4.3%, lower than the national average of 5%, FactChecker reported on October 22, 2018.

Claim: Youth are committing suicide in the state due to unemployment.

Fact: Unclear. While Madhya Pradesh reported most suicides (579) due to unemployment, according to National Crime Records Bureau data, 2015, the latest available, there are no age-wise data available. Madhya Pradesh was followed by Tamil Nadu (414) and Maharashtra (377).

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