Congress chief Kharge launches fresh on PM, calls “Make in India” initiative a ‘break’ in India’s manufacturing

New Delhi [India], September 25 (ANI): Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday criticised the “Make in India” initiative started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling it a ‘stunt’ that has led to the ‘de-industrialisation’ of India’s manufacturing sector.

In a post on X, Kharge said “With rampant joblessness, plunging exports and extinguishing savings, Modi Govt’s glitzy ads on ‘Make in India’ cannot sugarcoat its colossal failures!,” he said in the post.

“10 years of Modi Govt’s Make in India Stunt has put Break in India’s Manufacturing! 10 years ago, PM @narendramodi crafted the slogan of “Make in India” and claimed to build Aatmnirbhar Bharat. Contrary to BJP’s high decibel propaganda, India’s Manufacturing sector has got de-industrialised due to Modi Govt’s FLOP policy initiatives,” he said in the post.

The Congress chief went on to outline a few key areas, he claimed where the Modi government’s policies have failed.
“5 stark facts which made India miss the bus on Manufacturing are – 1. The average growth rate of the Manufacturing sector between 2014-15 and 2023-24 is just 3.1 per cent (BJP-NDA) whereas between 2004-05 and 2013-14, the average growth rate was 7.85 per cent (Congress-UPA),” he said in the post.
“2. The number of employees in factories grew at 6.2 per cent annually during the Congress-UPA regime. This growth fell spectacularly to just 2.8 per cent under the Modi Govt.,” Kharge said in the post.
“Between 2011-12 and 2022, India’s Manufacturing sector saw minimal growth in employment, increasing from 6 crore to merely 6.3 crore workers. This modest addition of 3 lakh jobs annually is insufficient, considering 1.5 crore youth enter the workforce every year. According to NSO, the share of Employment in Manufacturing accounted for 12.6 per cent of all workers (2011-12). This declined to 10.9 per cent (2020-21), before recovering a bit to 11.6 per cent (2021-22),” Kharge added.
“3. The share of Manufacturing in India’s GDP has hit an all time low of just 12.83 per cent (2023), due to Modi Govt’s policies. During Congress-UPA, the same was 15.25 per cent (2013),” he said in the post.

“4. PLI schemes have miserably failed in several sectors. Sectors such as high-efficiency solar PV modules, advance chemistry cell (ACC) batteries, textile products, speciality steel, white goods and medical devices have failed to yield the claimed results. Most PLI schemes have garnered lukewarm and tepid response from the industry and experts have criticised the schemes for their poor design, lack of clarity and no real value addition.,” Kharge said.

“5. Year after year, Modi Govt has sold stakes of even profit making PSUs to Modi ji’s crony friends, thereby breaking the backbone of our Public sector. Instead of filling vacant government jobs, Modi Govt has eliminated 5.1 lakh posts! Casual and contract recruitment in PSU’s has increased by a whopping 91 per cent. SC, ST, OBC posts have decreased by 1.3 lakh (2022-23). Overall there are 40 per cent contractual employees in Indian factories (2021-22), this was just 5 per cent (2013-14) during Congress-UPA,” he said in the post.