"Apprenticeship Idea Worth Working On": Raghuram Rajan Praises Congress Manifesto Despite Concerns Raised By Economists

At a recent conference, former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan endorsed the Congress party's proposal for apprenticeship programs to boost job creation, emphasising the need to tap into India's demographic potential.

"This idea of apprenticeship, which the Congress has in its manifesto is worth working on. I think there's a lot that needs to be done to make it effective, but we need many more students to at least be capable of doing a good job," Rajan said.

Rajan highlighted that India's current economic growth is not fully capitalising on its demographic dividend.

He pointed out that countries like China and Korea achieved much higher growth rates during their demographic dividend phase.

However, Rajan's endorsement of the manifesto contrasts with concerns raised by several other economists.

Economist Radhika Rao wrote in a report by DBS Bank which says “Congress’ manifesto carried populist undertones to woo votes.”

Also, "Our analysis suggests that implementation of populist schemes announced by the Congress in the manifesto could entail taking the fiscal deficit higher to 7-8.5 per cent of GDP vs 5.1 per cent of GDP projected by the BJP government in their FY25 interim budget,” wrote Tanvee Gupta Jain, Economist at UBS Securities India.

Rajan also critiqued the massive spending on sectors like chip manufacturing, pointing out the neglect of job-intensive industries.

“Think about these chip factories. So many billions going to subsidise chip manufacturing,” he commented, noting that sectors like leather are struggling.

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