“Source:The India Today ”
New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to head two cabinet committees which will trouble shoot on two key concerns – investment and employment.
The members of cabinet committee on investments and growth will include PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari. Piyush Goyal also leads Commerce ministry and Nitin Gadkari MSME ministry, two industry-linked portfolios which will be crucial while making investment-related decisions.
The committee for investment will be a crucial special purpose vehicle for Modi government’s promise to invest 100 lakh crore in infrastructure in next five years.
The cabinet committee on employment and skill development will have 10 ministers as members.
The employment committee will be led by PM Narendra Modi and will have Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal, Agriculture and Panchayti Raj Minister Naresh Singh Tomar, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Skill and Entrepreneurship Minister Mahendra Pandey, Urban Development Minister Hardeep Puri and two others as members.
To set up a cabinet committee, the cabinet has to clear the proposal, which is then sent to the President. Once the President approves it, the proposal comes to Cabinet Secretary, who notifies it. The cabinet committee comes into force after notification.
The setting up of two key committees within the cabinet indicates the realisation within the BJP that the Opposition may have failed to build a narrative against PM Modi in the recent Lok Sabha elections on issues like jobs and economy but the concerns flagged by the Opposition were real.
The recent GDP figures have further highlighted the slowdown Indian economy is facing at the moment. The numbers released on May 31 show that in March quarter India’s GDP growth fell to five-year-low to hit 5.8 per cent.
The government data said that sluggish growth in eight core sectors, including manufacturing and manufacturing, affected the GDP numbers.
Employment data for 2017-18, also released on May 31, confirms that India’s unemployment rate rose to 6.1 per cent in the said period, which is highest in 45 years.