Nidhi Razdan misquotes Piyush Goyal’s statement over number of jobs in the Railways

When it comes to spinning simple, innocuous stories into sensationalist, click-bait headlines, NDTV is in a league of its own.  The audacity, with which NDTV lies through its teeth, is unmatchable and it has done it again. Much celebrated NDTV anchor Nidhi Razdan deliberately misquoted Union Railways Minister, Piyush Goyal’s statement in her debate. In a promotional tweet for her show ‘Left, Right & Centre’, she claimed, “The Railways Minister now claims that 2.5 lakh people will be employed by his ministry alone in the next 2 years. Last year he had said the railways could create 10 lakh jobs in one year. What’s happening with India’s jobs?”

Social media users were quick to expose the hollowness of Nidhi’s claims. They pointed out that Piyush Goyal had actually said 10 lakh jobs by ‘Railway Ecosystem’. Including contractual & outsourcing, not directly jobs in the Railways. There is a difference between direct and indirect employment which Nidhi Razdan doesn’t seem to understand.

In 2017 speaking at the India Economic Summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF), he had said, “My own sense is, may not be directly jobs in railways, but certainly through engaging people and working in variety of areas across the ecosystem, not less than a million jobs can be created in less than 12 months — only railways and ecosystem around the railways.”

Goyal had also said that safety maintenance programme alone would create 2 lakh jobs. He further added, “If I look at the amount of investment in pipeline and activate that, it will create 2-2.5 lakh jobs in existing projects.”

The Railways has been in the news for providing direct employment and carrying out mega recruitment drives also. Last year, they carried out recruitment for 89,409 posts for lower lever staffers including loco pilots and technicians. It was one of the biggest recruitment exercises in the world. According to the Indian Express report last year, the Railways advertised for recruitment to over 1.2 lakh vacant posts in Group C, Group D. Over 2.5 crore candidates applied for the post. The recruitment process for jobs in both the categories will get concluded by August 2019.

On 24 January, Piyush Goyal had announced mega jobs drive in the Railways. The Railways have announced vacancies for additional 2.50 lakh posts. While addressing the press, Piyush Goyal said, “New job opportunities for 2.25-2.50 lakh people have been created, process for 1.50 lakh vacancies is underway. So Railways, in a way, will be providing 4 Lakh jobs.” Therefore, the vacancies that have been announced are in addition to the 1.50 lakh vacancies on which recruitment is already underway.

But the self-declared unbiased, well-informed, and larger than the life journalists don’t even bother to check the facts and conduct an entire debate saying Piyush Goyal promised 10 lakh jobs but gave only 2.5 lakh jobs. Moreover, the fact is that the minister is leaving no stone unturned in order to deliver on his promise. Nidhi Razdan has been a habitual offender when it comes to targeting the BJP and PM Modi in particular. Interestingly, she does it without bothering to cross-verify the facts.

The Railways have been undergoing intense reforms and innovation. With a number of new premium trains boasting with high-class service and better speeds being introduced, it is only natural that the Railways would require a larger number of employees to ensure smooth operations. Moreover, the incumbent government has been particular about infrastructure development especially in the far regions of the country. As the Railways start operations in new areas, the greater workforce would definitely be required to manage its operations.