PM Narendra Modi urges India Inc to hire more apprentices

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday urged Indian corporates to hire more apprentices even if their profits fall, saying it is their social responsibility to do so.
 
In his address inaugurating the 46th session of Indian Labour Conference, the prime minister expressed his disappointment at the small number of apprentices working in India compared with China and Japan.
 
"China has two crore people working as apprentices… one crore in Japan… but only 30 lakh in India. Disappointing! The CSR [corporate social responsibility] should involve training the apprentices… So many people need jobs… We have to start from somewhere. I want industrialists to hire more apprentices. Never mind if your profit margins fall. It is your social responsibility," Modi said.
 
The prime minister stressed on the middle class, too, helping people who work for them.
 
"There have been so many prime ministers in the past… but if there is one Prime Minister who understands labour, it's me. I know the state of the poor in the nation because I have come from that background. I don't need to go with a cameraman to study it. I have lived with them, I know labour," Modi said.
 
At the conference, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also warned of a threat to job creation if investments continued to be blocked.
 
"If we stop the fountain of investment, then employment will not increase, then economic activity will also not increase. And it becomes a threat to existing jobs," Jaitley said.

With inputs from PTI