Prime Minister Narender Modi has asked various government departments and ministries to undertake the recruitment of 10 lakh people on a “mission mode” in the next year and a half, his office said on Tuesday.
The direction came following a review of the status of human resources in all government departments and ministries, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.
The government’s decision comes amid Opposition’s frequent criticism of it on the issue of unemployment. A large number of vacancies in different government sectors has often been flagged to buttress this point.
The decision to fill up 10 lakh posts in the next 18 months means that the ruling BJP will have something solid to counter the criticism of the government on the issue of unemployment in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
“PM Modi reviewed the status of Human Resource in all departments and ministries and instructed that recruitment of 10 lakh people be done by the Government in mission mode in next 1.5 years,” the PMO said in a tweet.
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 as on March 1, 2020, was 31.91 lakh, as against the sanctioned strength of 40.78 lakh; thus approximately 21.75 per cent of the posts were vacant.
The report said almost 92 per cent of the total manpower is covered by five major ministries or departments — railways, defence (civil), home affairs, posts and revenue.
