India unemployment data triggers political dispute

The Indian government has disputed a report that puts the country's unemployment rate is at a 45-year high.

A survey by the National Sample Survey Office put the figure for 2017-18 at 6.1 per cent.

However, the government think-tank Niti Aayog claims that the report is just a draft and the date has not been finalised.

The leader of the opposition Congress Party, Rahul Gandhi, used the figures to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi's record on job creation, but the ruling BJP accused Gandhi of peddling "fake news".