The Delhi government’s Directorate of Employment does not have data on the number of people who have received employment through the ‘Rozgar Bazaar’ job portal, The Hindu has found through an RTI application.
“[The] portal does not have data for persons placed for jobs. As such, whenever a candidate is placed by the employer through the Rojgar bazaar portal, the concerned employer is not required to provide the placement details to the department,” the Employment Directorate said in response to the RTI.
Job creation has been a talking point for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, especially at political rallies in poll-bound States. Several party leaders, including its national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, have on many occasions claimed that the Delhi government has, through the portal, provided at least 10 lakh jobs to the city residents in the private sector.
“I am giving you a guarantee of employment. In Delhi, we arranged jobs for around 12 lakh youth. We know how to provide employment,” Mr. Kejriwal said last month in a speech in Rajasthan, which will go to polls on November 25.
AAP had, earlier this year, said a break up of 12 lakh jobs had been provided in the Delhi budget. As per the 2022-23 budget, 10 lakh jobs were “created” in the private sector through the portal.
‘Dysfunctional portal’
The RTI response also stated that the job portal, launched on July 27, 2020, has been dysfunctional for the past six months. “Due to some administrative and technical reasons, Rojgar Bazaar Portal is not functioning since May 2023,” it said.
When reached for a comment, the government said in a statement that “a total of 10,21,303 verified jobs have been generated in Delhi” and that the portal “has helped 10.21 lakh jobseekers get employment so far”.
The government said it had arrived at the figure on the basis of “sample surveys”.
“The Delhi government carries out sample surveys of employers to get their feedback on the placements, through which all employers surveyed have confirmed that they have been able to hire people for jobs posted on Rozgar Bazaar,” the government’s response read.
This is the first time the Delhi government has stated that the claim of having provided 10 lakh jobs is based on sample surveys.
In July 2022, The Hindu had reported that in contrast to the AAP’s claims about the government providing 10 lakh jobs in the private sector through the portal, only 12,588 people had secured jobs till May 1, and that this information was based solely on phone calls with people who had posted the openings on the portal.
Close to 10 lakh active job openings were posted on the portal by various employers in early 2022.
The Delhi government had announced a ‘Rozgar Bazaar 2.0’ — an updated version of the job portal – in last year’s budget. The government had promised to provide five lakh jobs in five years through the updated portal. However, the project is yet to materialise, officials said.
‘12 lakh jobs’
Nearly 14 months after the portal’s launch, on October 18, 2021, then Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said “10 lakh jobs” have been “advertised” on the portal.
On January 28, 2022, at anevent in Punjab ahead of the Assembly election, Mr. Kejriwal said, “Just as we gave 10 lakh jobs in Delhi, we will give them in Punjab also.” He made similar statements in Goa, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh during the party’s election campaigns in these States.
In the run-up to the Gujarat election in December 2022, the AAP chief said the party had given “12 lakh” jobs in Delhi and would do the same in Gujarat if voted to power.
Mr. Kejriwal has also made claims about the “12 lakh jobs” in recent speeches in poll-bound States such as Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
Published - November 01, 2023 01:54 am IST
