Bhopal: Months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi advised unemployed people to sell pakodas, minister of state for agriculture and farmers welfare, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, said preparing pickles and jam was also a good employment option.
Citing a rags to riches example, the minister said that a friend’s family was able to establish a pickle business with a Rs two crore turnover after it secured a loan through the government’s Mudra scheme.
PM Modi had created a furore while giving an interview to leading channel when he said “if a person selling pakodas earns Rs 200 at the end of the day, will it be considered employment or not?”.
Talking about job creation, Shekhawat said, “We offered Mudra loans to 14 crore people, built 7.5 crore toilets and offered five crore LPG connections under Ujjawala scheme.”
Saying that the world has acknowledged that fact that India now stands at the brink of endless opportunities, he urged the media to think with a “sense of responsibility”.
He also claimed that farmers did not commit suicide in Rajasthan as they have been given alternate sources of income in the state. Shekhawat also mentioned that the India was the biggest exporter of bovine meat and the earlier export figure of Rs 24,000 crore has now swelled to Rs 48,000 crore.
Responding to the minister’s comments, Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee head Kamal Nath said, “Let Modi ministers fry pakodas or prepare pickles, but I urge them not to fool the public.”
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