New Delhi, July 21 (IANS) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed Parliament on Monday that the government has undertaken a series of measures to reduce the unemployment rate in the country from 6 per cent to 3.2 per cent in the six years and bring down inflation to a six-year low.

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, the minister stated that various steps had been taken to control inflation, while fostering sustainable employment and improving household incomes, particularly among the poor and the youth.

These include, inter alia, the augmentation of buffer stocks for essential food items, strategic sales of procured grains in the open market, facilitation of imports and export curbs during periods of short supply, implementation of stock limits to push more supplies of select commodities into the market, retail sales of select food items under the Bharat brand at subsidised rates, and above all, distribution of food grains free of cost to around 81 crore beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act.

Besides, the government had increased the disposable income of individuals by exempting annual incomes up to Rs 12 lakh (and Rs 12.75 lakh for salaried individuals with standard deduction) from income tax, the minister said.

She explained that as a consequence of various measures, average retail inflation rate (year-on-year) measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) declined from 5.4 per cent in 2023-24 to 4.6 per cent in 2024-25, the lowest in the last six years.

Furthermore, CPI declined to an average of 2.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2025–26, ending the quarter at 2.1 per cent in June 2025. The deceleration in food inflation continued through Q1 of 2025-26 and reached a negative territory with (-) 1.06 per cent in June 2025, lowest after January 2019, she added.

FM Sitharaman further stated that in addition to inflation control measures, various steps have been taken to expand job opportunities through various employment generation and skill development programmes such as Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme, Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana, Employment-Linked Incentives to industries, National Urban/Rural Livelihoods Missions, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Kaushal Vikas Yojanas etc.

Further, ‘Rural Prosperity and Resilience’ programme was announced in the Union Budget 2025-26 to address underemployment in agriculture through skilling, investment and technology, focusing on women, youth, marginal farmers etc.

Consequent to various measures, the all-India annual unemployment rate for individuals aged 15 years and above (as per usual status) declined from 6 per cent in 2017-18 to 3.2 per cent in 2023-24, the Finance Minister added.

–IANS

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