NEW DELHI: The Congress on Monday accused the Modi government of “completely ravaging” young India’s entire pathway from education to employment, and claimed that it has delivered an education system that costs more, examinations young Indians cannot trust, and degrees that increasingly come without jobs.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge attacked the government citing a recent Niti Aayog report which said that an estimated 8.7 crore Indian youth aged 15 to 29 are not studying, working, or receiving training. The report highlighted the urgent need for subsidised training programmes to encourage self-employment and align with local demand and emerging sectors.
In a post on X, Kharge said the Modi government has “completely ravaged” young India’s entire pathway from education to employment.
“NITI Aayog estimates that 8.7 crore young Indians aged 15 to 29 are neither in education, employment nor training. Nearly 88% are engaged in domestic duties.
“At the same time, youth unemployment stands at 15.6%, rising to a shocking 19.5% among young women, he said, citing Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), July 2026.
“Three questions to Narendra Modi ji, 1. Where are the jobs after graduation Graduates constitute 67% of unemployed Indians aged 20 to 29, while unemployment among graduates aged 15 to 25 is nearly 40%. Families spend their savings, students take education loans and earn degrees, only to discover that there are simply not enough jobs,” Kharge said.
What happened to the promise of 2 crore jobs every year, he asked.
By that promise, India should have seen 24 crore jobs in 12 years but instead, lakhs of government posts remain vacant while secure employment is increasingly replaced by contractual and part-time work, Kharge said.
Who is turning India’s demographic dividend into a demographic disaster, he further asked.
“Expensive and inadequate education, paper leaks, delayed recruitment, a widening skills gap and disappearing quality jobs have put the future of an entire generation at risk,” he alleged.
“You, Modi ji, promised to achieve what previous governments could not do in 70 years! You have certainly delivered on that boast: an Education system that costs more, infested with RSS, examinations young Indians cannot trust, and degrees that increasingly come without jobs,” Kharge said.
The Aayog, in the report titled ‘Reimagining Skilling for Viksit Bharat@2047’, said the estimate is based on data from the 78th round of the National Sample Survey conducted in 2021.
To ensure the highest impact, the Aayog organised India’s workforce landscape and learners into five segments — schooling; tertiary education; formal and informal work; not in education, employment and training (NEET) youth; and women.
“NEET youth are constrained by the absence of income and the sunk cost of prior education. Students often cannot layer paid skilling onto existing financial commitments,” it said.
The Aayog has defined NEET youth as youth comprising individuals between the ages of 15 and 29 who are not engaged in education, employment, or training, as well as those who are unemployed.
