6.6.19

Two new cabinet panels to spur growth, employment

With the spectre of slowdown haunting the economy and rising unemployment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi constituted two new Cabinet committees under his chairmanship to spur economic growth, investment and employment.

The five-member Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth includes Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Road Transport and Highways and of MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.

This committee will be a crucial special purpose vehicle for Modi government’s promise to invest 100 lakh crore in infrastructure in next five years.

Another 10-member Cabinet Committee on Employment and Skill Development has been formed which includes Shah, Sitharaman, Goyal, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Narendra Singh Tomar, Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister Skill and Entrepreneurship Mahendra Nath Pandey and Ministers of State Santosh Kumar Gangwar (Labour) and Hardeep Singh Puri (Housing and Urban Affairs).

Economy is a major concern for the new government with GDP dropping to 5.8 per cent in the last quarter of 2018-19, according to NSSO figures. On employment, the Periodic Labour Force Survey- Annual Report (July 2017-July 2018) put unemployment rate at 6.1 per cent, the highest in 45 years. 

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