New Delhi, Sep 26 (IANS): Taunting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Howdy Modi' event at Houston in the USA, the Congress here on Thursday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of ruining the education system and employment opportunities in the country.

Addressing a press conference, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, "Indian youth have a straight question -- howdy education and howdy unemployment? The BJP government has ruined education and employment in India."

There was neither jobs, nor good education, Surjewala said and added, unemployment was visible everywhere and it's the 'everything is fine' BJP government. He was taking a dig at Modi over his 'everything is fine in India' remark made at Houston.

According to two reports -- the Eighth Annual All India Survey on Higher Education 2018-19, issued by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), and Unemployment in India - A Statistical Profile, by the Centre for Monitoring India Economy (CMIE) -- Surjewala said, the unemployment rate in May was 7.03 per cent, the highest in 50 years, and it increased to 8.19 per cent in August, perhaps the highest since Independence.

"The global average unemployment is 4.95 per cent, as estimated by the International Labour Organisation, but the unemployment in India is nearly double," he said.

Surjewala said the rate of unemployment for men was 6.1 per cent and more than double at 17.5 per cent for women. "This is the reality of the 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' scheme," he said.

The Congress leader also said unemployment had jumped to 15 per cent among graduates and above. "It's three times the global average. At present, more than one crore youth are unemployed," he said.

Across the nation, only 2.5 per cent educational institutions provided for for PhD studies and only 0.5 per cent youths were enrolled. According to the HRD Ministry report, about 74 per cent of youth in the 18-23 age group were not enrolled for graduate degrees, he added.