Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the government has formulated all policies in the last nine years keeping in focus creation of fresh employment opportunities, and EPFO data showed 4.50 crore persons have secured formal jobs since 2018-19.

Distributing 71,000  appointment letters to fresh recruits in Central and State government jobs, the prime minister said whether it was creation of modern infrastructure or development of rural areas, or even extension of existing facilities, every project and every policy of the government created new employment.

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In the last nine years, he said, the Government has spent Rs 34 lakh crore on capital expenditure to enhance basic infrastructure. Even in this year’s Budget Rs 10 lakh crore have been earmarked for capital expenditure. New highways, new rail routes and bridges are being added, which generate lakhs of job opportunities.

The prime minister said the scale and speed at which India is working now is unprecedented in the last 75 years of Independence. While the EPFO data showed an increase in formal employment, there was a simultaneous increase in self-employment opportunities also.

Modi told the government appointees that Rozgar Melas at regular intervals showed the government’s commitment towards youth. Some days back there was a Rozgar Mela in Gujarat where appointment letters were given to thousands of persons. This month, later, there will be a big Rozgar Mela in Assam, he said.

The prime minister said the day was important as on this day nine years ago, the Lok Sabha election results had come, putting his Government in office, generating fresh confidence among people.

He said the government has taken several steps to simplify the Staff Selection Board procedures for applying to Government jobs. Earlier, even getting forms to apply for the jobs meant spending hours in queues. There was then the issue of getting the documents attested by senior officials. It was always in doubt whether the applications had reached their destinations by post.

Now the procedures from the beginning till end have been made online and one can self-attest the documents, he said. Interviews have been scrapped for Group C and D posts. A benefit of this change is that there is no possibility of corruption and favouritism.

Speaking about job-creating economic activity in the last nine years, he said 40,000 kms of rail lines got electrified compared to 20,000 kms in the seven decades before 2014. Before 2014, only 600 meters of Metro lines were laid every month, and now six kilometers of rail lines are being laid every month, the Prime Minister said.

Before 2014, there were less than four lakh km of rural roads, today this length has gone up to 7.25 lakh km. The number of airports has risen from 74 in 2014 to nearly 150 today. Similarly, four crore houses constructed for the poor in the last nine years have created significant employment.

Five lakh common service centers in the villages are providing jobs in rural areas, Modi said. More than 30,000 Panchayat Bhawans have been constructed in the villages and nine crore households have been connected with piped water. All are creating employment at a large scale, said the Prime Minister.

In the last nine years, the Prime Minister said, the nature of jobs has seen tremendous changes and new sectors have emerged for the youth of the country. The central government is providing continuous support to these new sectors. There was a start-up revolution witnessed in the country and the number of start-ups has increased from 100 before 2014 to more than one lakh today which has given employment to more than 10 lakh youths.

Highlighting technological developments that have made the lives of people easier than before, the prime minister gave examples of app-based taxi services that have become a lifeline for the cities; efficient online delivery systems that have increased employment; boost to the drone sector which has helped in spraying of pesticides to delivery of medicines, expanding city gas distribution system whose coverage has gone up from 60 to 600 cities.

In the last nine years, the Prime Minister said the government has disbursed loans worth more than Rs 23 lakh crores under the Mudra Yojna which has helped the citizens in establishing new businesses, buying taxis or expanding their existing establishments.

The prime minister emphasized that higher education institutes and skill development institutes are being developed at a fast pace in the country. The government has developed 15 new AIIMS. “In the last nine years, one ITI has been established every day,” he said.

The prime minister said there is unprecedented positivity for India’s industry and investment at the global level. Recalling his recent meeting with Walmart CEO, he said that the CEO was confident of exporting up to Rs 80,000 crore worth of goods from the country in the next three to four years. This is big news for the youth employed in the sectors of logistics and supply chain, he said.

He said the CEO of CISCO too planned to export Rs 8,000 crores worth of products from India and the CEO of Apple had shown confidence about the mobile manufacturing industry in India.