New Delhi | Underlining that economic growth means diversification of employment from agriculture to industry to services, the Congress on Saturday claimed that the progress achieved under Manmohan Singh as PM in this direction has been reversed by the Narendra Modi government.

The current dispensation's "mismanagement" has set the economic transformation back by 20 years, the party alleged.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the number of agricultural workers in India declined by 6.7 crore between 2004-05 and 2017-18 as workers left low-wage agriculture to instead pursue higher-wage occupations in manufacturing and services.

This was a historic achievement, a key landmark in India's transition to a middle-income country, he said in a post on X.

"All the progress achieved, largely under Dr. Manmohan Singh's prime ministership, has been almost entirely reversed within three years of Modi's Anyay Kaal," Ramesh claimed.

Since 2018-19, the number of agricultural workers has gone up by 6 crore, and the reversion back to agriculture predates the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

"Economic growth means diversification of employment from agriculture to industry to services. This is the sequence that all countries follow - and India also followed, until now," the Congress leader pointed out.

"Rather than take India on the path to prosperity, the prime minister's blundering and mismanagement has set our economic transformation back by 20 years," Ramesh alleged.

The Congress has been attacking the government over its handling of the economy and raising concerns over "increasing" unemployment and price rise.