Centre admits to rising rate of unemployment in India

The government on Monday admitted to an increase in unemployment, especially among backward classes. In reply to a question during Question Hour, Minister of State for Planning Rao Inderjit Singh said that overall unemployment was rising, but the rate was highest among the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

The overall unemployment rate is 5 percent, while it is 5.2 percent for the OBCs, Singh told Parliament. In 2013, the unemployment rate stood at 4.9 percent, 4.7 percent in 2012 and 3.8 percent in 2011.

The current unemployment rate for Scheduled Castes is 5 percent against 3.8 percent in 2011.

The minister also said that there has been an improvement in the Human Development Indices of SCs and STs over the years but the gap between them and other social groups remains.

"The main reason for the gap is poverty and its vicious circle, illiteracy, dependence largely on wage labour etc, which the Government has been addressing through various socio-economic development programmes," he told Rajya Sabha.

Planning Commission figures, given by him, showed that the incidence of poverty in rural areas in 2011-12 for SCs was 31.50, for STs it was 47.37, while the total stood at 25.40. For urban areas, incidence of poverty among SCs was 21.70 and STs 24.10.

He also cited census data showing the literacy rate among SCs to be 66.07, for it was STs 58.96, while the total stood at 74.

The figures also showed that school dropout rate among SCs for 2013-14 for class I-X was 50.1, for STs it was 62.4 while the total was 47.4 percent.