Admitting that the problem of unemployment existed in the country, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Thursday told the Rajya Sabha that the promise to create 1 crore (Rs 10 million) jobs annually would be fulfilled.

"There is unemployment in the country. All agree that efforts should be made to remove it. We have set a target of providing one crore jobs every year. We stand by our promise and it will be fulfilled," he said, intervening during the Question Hour.

Vajpayee clarified that creation of one crore new employment opportunities did not mean that all the unemployed persons would be provided with government jobs.

"The House has discussed this issue in the past. In one year 80 lakh (Rs 8 million) jobs have been provided. We stand by our promise to provide one crore jobs annually and it will be fulfilled," he said.

Referring to a remark made by the RJD leader Laloo Prasad Yadav, the prime minister said the economic scenario would become such that job opportunities would be visible in Bihar.

In a lighter vein, Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat said it was a partiality as Vajpayee was naming only Bihar.

Earlier, a number of opposition members grilled Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma, saying the government had failed to keep up its promise to provide one crore new jobs annually.

They kept shouting to show their displeasure over Verma's reply to their supplementaries and demanded the prime minister's intervention.

Verma said over 4 crore (40 million) job seekers were at present registered with the employment exchanges in the country.