Labour-Intensive Industrialisation Is the Urgent Need of the Hour

Despite the fact that Indian economy has been surging ahead and the GDP growth showing a steady rise over the years, the spectre of unemployment and imbalanced development among various regions still keeps staring us in the face. Unless the fruits of economic development reach one and all, there is every likelihood of the tremors of unrest erupting every now and then. Undoubtedly, we need credible policy solutions to reduce imbalances. Industrial development must spread to new regions so that the feeling of neglect and alienation among people living in the least developed areas of India is adequately addressed and pacified. The hold of „crony capitalism‟ must yield to capitalism with social concerns. In the present economic-cum-market dispensation, industrialisation ought to be a winning process of social transformation, intensive employment and economic development. A developing country like India cannot afford to view industrialisation as a negative phenomenon. There are areas of concern, like displacement of persons, environmental damage and alienation of working class. These concerns must be dealt with and remedied before the situation gets out of hand. If our labour laws are inhibiting the growth of new ventures, they have to be suitably amended without harming the larger interests of workers, both skilled and unskilled. It should be clear to one and all that without labour-intensive industrialisation, there can be no lasting and meaningful solutions to the problems of unemploymentThere is an urgent need to impress upon research institutions to come up with all possible solutions on how to prevent „crony capitalism‟, inject greater competition in the industrial sector and tackle problems faced by domestic enterprise. All said and done, efforts are required to ensure that markets remain competitive by curtailing monopolistic