If selling 'pakodas' is a job, so is begging: P Chidambaram

NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram today slammed the government for its "wild" claims of job creation and said that if selling 'pakodas' is a job then begging should also be recognised as an employment option.

The former finance minister, in a series of tweets, said that the government is "clueless" on creating jobs.

"Even selling pakodas is a 'job' said PM. By that logic, even begging is a job. Let's count poor or disabled persons who are forced to beg for a living as 'employed' people," he said in one of his tweets.


On January 19, in an interview to a TV channel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had questioned: "If a person sells 'pakodas' and takes home Rs 200 every evening, will it be considered employment or not?"

In a firm rebuttal to the PM's contention, Chidambaram said there is a marked difference between jobs and self-employment - mainly that the former is a steady and secure form of employment, whereas the latter may not necessarily be so.


The Congress leader also argued the effectiveness of the government’s decision to identify MGNREGA workers as “job holders”.

"Another minister wanted MGNREGA workers to be counted as holding jobs. So they are 'job' holders for 100 days and jobless for 265 days!" He argued.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MGNREGA) was formulated with an aim "to enhance the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing hundred days of wage employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work".

Chidambaram further spelt out ways to open up the "stagnant" job market and said that an increase in private investment, private consumption, exports and credit demand will be a step in the right direction.

"Real job creation will be reflected by robust increase in private investment, private consumption, exports and credit demand. Not happening yet," he wrote.

Chidambaram, time and again, has highlighted the chinks in government's armour by tweeting on issues of national importance.

Last week, when PM Modi was addressing the world leaders at the World Economic Forums in Davos, the leader took a swipe at the PM for his attempts to woo investors to India.