Unemployment
Introduction
Population, food security, education and remunerative employment opportunities are closely interconnected. Rising levels of education and rising living standards are powerful levers for reducing birth and mortality rates. India has met the challenge of producing sufficient food to feed everyone, but it has yet to meet the challenge of generating sufficient employment opportunities to ensure that all its people have the purchasing power to obtain the food they require. Gainful employment is one of the most essential conditions for food security and economic security. Conversely, food security is an essential requirement for raising the productivity of India’s workforce to international levels .
India’s labour force has reached 485 million approximately in 2009, and it will continue to expand over the next two decades. The actual rate of that expansion will depend on several factors including population growth, growth of the working age population, labour force participation rates, educational enrolment at higher levels and school drop-out rates. Projections based on these parameters indicate that India’s labour force will expand by 7 to 8.5 million per year during the first decade of this century, and will increase by a total of about 160-170 million by 2020, i.e., 2.0 percent per annum.
A glance at unemployment in INDIA
Total unemployment in India has been estimated to be about 35 million persons in
2002. This figure takes into account the significant level of underemployment and seasonal variations in the availability of work. It also reflects wide variations in the rate of unemployment among different age groups and regions of the country. Approximately three-fourth of the unemployed are in rural areas and three-fifth among them are educated. The recent trends towards shedding excess labour to improve competitiveness and increasing capital intensity have further aggravated the situation. A clear consensus is now emerging that major changes in economic policy and strategy will be needed to meet the country’s employment needs.
Future rates of unemployment will depend on a range of factors, including the growth rate of the labour force and changes in the structure of employment between different sectors, as well as the growth rate of the economy. Adopting the higher number takes us closer to understanding the full magnitude of the challenge the country faces for providing employment opportunities for all its people. India needs to generate on the order of 200 million additional employment opportunities over the next 20 years.
The first question that inevitably arises is whether generating nine or ten million jobs a year is feasible, and that naturally begets the question of what rates of economic growth would be required for achieving this. However logical and inevitable it may sound, we believe this is the wrong way to approach the problem. The right question to ask is: How important is it to us as a nation to create employment opportunities for all? The answer here is simple. It is extremely important. It is as important to create job opportunities for all citizens in a market economy as it is to provide universal suffrage to all adults in a democracy. Access to employment is an essential component of freedom of economic choice. Absence of such opportunity means depriving our young not only of economic freedom but of hope as well.
“India’s vision for 2020 must be founded on the premise of gainful Jobs for All. Access to employment should not only be a top priority of the government but a constitutionally guaranteed fundamental human right”.
Thus, it reflects the availability of unemployment in current India scenario,so we, the nation, that have to decide what we want to accomplish and how serious we are sorting out the problem of unemployment in our country. How willing we are to change our attitudes and to alter our policies to achieve this desirable goal. We conclude that if the will and determination are present, the goal is achievable.
Achieving full employment will require a reorientation of national priorities, technology policy and government action. As we have incorporated an environmental analysis into all our planning, every plan initiative needs also to be re-evaluated to consider its impact on employment.
Objectives of study
The unemployment scenario in India has always been quite acute. With a huge population and slow growth of job opportunities, unemployment has been widespread in India. Large scale unemployment has led to several socio-economic problems like poverty, malnutrition, antisocial and criminal activities, drug and substance abuse, etc. The lack of proper unemployment insurance schemes has further aggravated this problem.
The problem of unemployment has becoming a colossal. Various problems have caused this problem. There are individual factors like age, vocational unfitness and physical disabilities which restrict the people.
The objective of proposed paper is categorized in two types of objectives , Intial and secondary.
Initial Objective : To enlighten the causes of unemployment in India
Secondary objective :
1) To provide the views on unemployment problem in India.
2) To enlighten the efforts towards the removal of unemployment problem in India.
3) To raise the vision towards the categories of unemployment in present India.
Causes of unemployment : Stagewise
Overview of unemployment - In proposed paper we have categorized the unemployment scenario in three stages, which covers three decades of time intervals.
|1981 – 1990 |1991 – 2000 |2001 - 2010 |
|Rapid Population Growth |Form of unemployment of worthy and productive |Immigration of rural youth to the urban areas |
| |citizens | |
|Seasonal Agriculture |Rapid Population Growth |Ceiling of land |
|Fragmentation of land |Slow rate of employment opportunies from |Improper implementation of Government policies|
| |government |towards the rural and backward areas |
|Backward Method of Agriculture |Implementation of employment through cottage |Lack of support to new entrepreneurs through |
| |industries, small scale industries are |Govt and SHG’s |
| |comparatively less. | |
|Decline of Cottage Industries |Uneven distribution of job opportunites in new |Introduction of extreme high standard of |
| |constituted states e.g. Jharkhand Chattisgarh |education pattern through the Govt. |
| |etc | |
|Defective education |Inadequate Employment Planning |4 years of Relaxation in the age of retirement.|
|Lack of transport and communication |Fragmentation of land |Nature of job switching through one to another |
|Inadequate Employment Planning |Improper role of employment exchanges |Uncertainty in job selection of youth |
| |throughout the nation | |
1) From 1981 – 1990
2) From 1991 – 2000
3) From 2001 - 2010
As per the above chart we are detailing the causes of unemployment in India in the next part of paper:-
It is obvious that the unemployment situation is grim indeed. It has, therefore, to be tackled with appropriate measures and on an urgent basis. However, before we discussed the ways and means of removing unemployment, it is necessary that we understand the causes that given rise to it. The major causes which have been responsible for the wide spread unemployment can be spelt out as under.
Stage I: 1981 – 1990
1) Rapid Population Growth:
It is the leading cause of unemployment in Rural India. In India, particularly in rural areas, the population is increasing rapidly. It has adversely affected the unemployment situation largely in two ways. In the first place, the growth of population directly encouraged the unemployment by making large addition to labour force. It is because the rate of job expansion could never have been as high as population growth would have required.
2) Seasonal Agriculture:
In Rural Society agriculture is the only means of employment. However, most of the rural people are engaged directly as well as indirectly in agricultural operation. But, agriculture in India is basically a seasonal affair. It provides employment facilities to the rural people only in a particular season of the year.
3) Fragmentation of land:
In India, due to the heavy pressure on land of large population results the fragmentation of land. It creates a great obstacle in the part of agriculture. As land is fragmented and agricultural work is being hindered the people who depend on agriculture remain unemployed. This has an adverse effect on the employment situation. It also leads to the poverty of villagers.
4) Backward Method of Agriculture:
The method of agriculture in India is very backward. Till now, the rural farmers followed the old farming methods. As a result, the farmer cannot feed properly many people by the produce of his farm and he is unable to provide his children with proper education or to engage them in any profession. It leads to unemployment problem.
5) Decline of Cottage Industries:
In Rural India, village or cottage industries are the only mans of employment particularly of the landless people. They depend directly on various cottage industries for their livelihood. But, now-a-days, these are adversely affected by the industrialisation process. Actually, it is found that they cannot compete with modern factories in matter or production. As a result of which the village industries suffer a serious loss and gradually closing down. Owing to this, the people who work in there remain unemployed and unable to maintain their livelihood.
6) Defective education:
The day-to-day education is very defective and is confirmed within the class room only. Its main aim is to acquire certificated only. The present educational system is not job oriented, it is degree oriented. It is defective on the ground that is more general then the vocational. Thus, the people who have getting general education are unable to do any work. They are to be called as good for nothing in the ground that they cannot have any job here, they can find the ways of self employment. It leads to unemployment as well as underemployment.
7) Lack of transport and communication:
In India particularly in rural areas, there are no adequate facilities of transport and communication. Owing to this, the village people who are not engaged in agricultural work are remained unemployed. It is because they are unable to start any business for their livelihood and they are confined only within the limited boundary of the village. It is noted that the modern means of transport and communication are the only way to trade and commerce. Since there is lack of transport and communication in rural areas, therefore, it leads to unemployment problem among the villagers.
8) Inadequate Employment Planning:
The employment planning of the government is not adequate in comparison to population growth. In India near about two lakh people are added yearly to our existing population. But the employment opportunities did not increase according to the proportionate rate of population growth. As a consequence, a great difference is visible between the job opportunities and population growth.
On the other hand it is a very difficult task on the part of the Government to provide adequate job facilities to all the people. Besides this, the government also does not take adequate step in this direction. The faulty employment planning of the Government expedites this problem to a great extent. As a result the problem of unemployment is increasing day by day.
Stage II : 1991 – 2000
1) Form of unemployment of worthy and productive citizens :
2) Growth Rapid Population: It is the leading cause of unemployment in Rural India. In India, particularly in rural areas, the population is increasing rapidly. It has adversely affected the unemployment situation largely in two ways. In the first place, the growth of population directly encouraged the unemployment by making large addition to labour force. It is because the rate of job expansion could never have been as high as population growth would have required.
3) Slow rate of employment opportunies from government : Due to discrimination of opportunies in various department of Indian Govt. there were lack of announcement of recruitment from Indian govt. in this particular Era.
4) Implementation of employment through cottage industries, small scale industries are comparatively less: In this particular time duration a less focus on Indian cottage industries and other small scale industries. They fought for their basic needs and resources for their survival.
5) Uneven distribution of job opportunites in new constituted states e.g. Jharkhand Chattisgarh etc. :- This was very tough that in a very beginning stage Govt. announced the different jobs in different sectors of Govt. department and there were very less recruitment offers were available from the private sector.
6) Inadequate Employment Planning : The employment planning of the government is not adequate in comparison to population growth. In India near about two lakh people are added yearly to our existing population. But the employment opportunities did not increase according to the proportionate rate of population growth. As a consequence, a great difference is visible between the job opportunities and population growth.
On the other hand it is a very difficult task on the part of the Government to provide adequate job facilities to all the people. Besides this, the government also does not take adequate step in this direction. The faulty employment planning of the Government expedites this problem to a great extent. As a result the problem of unemployment is increasing day by day.
7) Fragmentation of land : In India, due to the heavy pressure on land of large population results the fragmentation of land. It creates a great obstacle in the part of agriculture. As land is fragmented and agricultural work is being hindered the people who depend on agriculture remain unemployed. This has an adverse effect on the employment situation. It also leads to the poverty of villagers.
8) Improper role of employment exchanges throughout the nation : Not only the Indian youth are not aware to registered themselves in Govt. employment exchanges but the working of employment exchange are weakened also in comparison to other job searching institutes.
Stage II : 2001 – 2010
1) Immigration of rural youth to the urban areas : Due to vital role of media in different sectors of job opportunities with ample amount of information and communication, the rural youth has diverted from their ancestral jobs like farming ,cattle and dairy business etc. so they were moved to nearby urban areas for livelihood.
2) Ceiling of land : The criteria of ceiling land are diverting to all the rural people who were totally dependent on only source of their survival, off course “Land”. Hence they people never hesitated to move from their native places with full of risk.
3) Improper implementation of Government policies towards the rural and backward areas :
4) Lack of support to new entrepreneurs through Govt :
5) Introduction of extreme high standard of education pattern through the Govt. :
6) 4 years of Relaxation in the age of retirement :
7) Nature of job switching through one to another :
8) Uncertainty in job selection of youth :
Efforts
Estimates of Employment Generation: Achievement during the Sixth Plan and Anticipation for the Seventh Plan In the Sixth Plan document, overall employment was expected to grow from 151.11 million standard person years (SPY) in 1979-80 to 185.389 million SPY in 1984-85, i.e., an increase of 34.28 million SPY. It has now been estimated that the employment in 1984-85 would have been of the order of 186.705 million SPY implying an increase of 35.60 million SPY. The growth rate of employment generation during the Sixth Plan period works out to 4.32 per cent per annum. In addition to the sectoral investments during the Sixth Plan period which have resulted in an expansion of employment opportunities through the process of growth, there has been in operation important employment/ beneficiary oriented programmes for specific target groups such as the National Rural Employment Programme (NREP),.the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP), the Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP), the Training Scheme for Rural Youth for Self-Employment (TRYSEM), and the Scheme for providing Self-Employment to Educated Unemployed Youth. Briefly, the Special Employment Programmes as also the State Employment Programmes are as detailed below:
(i) The National Rural Employment Programme (NREP) aims at generating employment opportunities in the rural areas, simultaneously creating durable community assets for strengthening the rural infrastructure; it also seeks to improve the nutritional status and living standards of the rural poor. The programme operates in close conjunction with other developmental works. For the Sixth Five Year Plan, there was a provision of Rs. 980 crores in the Central sector and Rs. 640 crores in the States sector making a total of Rs. 1,620 crores for this programme. The progress of employment generation as a result of the execution of various works under the programme has been as follows: TABLE
Generation of Employment (million mandays)
|Year |Target |Achievement |
|1980-81 |— |413.58 |
|1981-82 |335.73 |354.52 |
|1982-83 |353.22 |351.20 |
|1983-84 |322.23 |302.76 |
|1984-85 |309.13 |352.31 |
(ii) During the Sixth Plan, it was felt that the hard core rural poverty, particularly that pertaining to the unemployment of the landless labourers during the lean agricultural season, had to be tackled in a more direct manner. Accordingly, a new scheme called the Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP) was introduced in 1983. The basic objectives of the programme are: (i) to improve and expand employment opportunities for rural landless with a view to providing guarantee of employment to at least one member of every landless labour household upto 100 days in a year; and (ii) creation of durable assets for strengthening the rural infrastructure which will lead to rapid growth of the rural economy. Assistance under the programme was provided to the State/UT Governments on 100 per cent grant basis. Funds amounting to Rs. 500 crores were allocated to them in the last two years of the Sixth Plan. It was originally expected that 360 million mandays of employment would be generated under the programme during the last two years of the Sixth Plan period, i.e., during 1983-85. As against this, 260.18 million mandays of employment were generated during those years.
(iii) The Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) is the single largest scheme for providing direct assistance to the rural poor and is meant for the poorest among the poor. Its objective is to provide productive assets and employment to the poor for enabling them to attain higher incomes and a better standard of living. The IRDP was expected to cover 15 million families to be identified in all the blocks of the country during the Sixth Plan period; on an average, 3000 families in a block were to be provided assistance through this programme. A sum of Rs. 1,500 crores was provided in the Plan as outlay for this programme. The banks were called upon to provide another Rs. 3,000 crores by way of loans to selected beneficiaries. Further, back-up facilities in infrastructure, community projects and assistance to voluntary agencies were also provided.
(iv) The Scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-Employment (TRYSEM) was initiated in 1979 with the principal objective of removing unemployment among the rural youth. The target was to train about 2 lakh rural youths every year at the rate of 40 youths per block of the country. The TRYSEM is an integrated part of the IRDP and aims at equipping the rural youth with skills to enable them to become self-employed. A rural youth from a family having an income of less than Rs. 3,500 per year was eligible for selection. Preference in selection was given to those who had aptitude for innovation and entrepreneurial activities. Priority was also given to members of SC/ST and women. The accepted mode of training is through institutions under master trainers. According to available information, 9.4 lakh rural youths received training under TRYSEM during the Sixth Plan. Around 50 per cent of them have taken up self-employment.
(v) The Scheme for Providing Self-employment to Educated Unemployed Youth was introduced in 1983 for providing self-employment to educated unemployed youth. The scheme provides for the grants of loan up to a maximum of Rs. 25,000 to educated youth residing in areas other than cities with a population of 10 lakh or more and having no other source of finance for settling down in self-employment. The implementation of the scheme was entrusted to the District Industries Centres under the guidance of the Development Commissioner for Small Scale Industries. An allocation of Rs. 25 crores was made for the programme during 1984-85 in the Central budget to cover Government assistance in the shape of an outright capital subsidy to the extent of 25 per cent of the loans taken by the entrepreneurs from the banks.
(vi) Some State Governments are implementing Special Employment Schemes to provide additional employment opportunities. The Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) of Maharashtra operating since 1972, is intended to provide employment on productive works to the workers desirous of rendering unskilled manual work and thereby reduce the incidence of unemployment, under employment and poverty in rural areas. The State Government gave a statutory backing to the guarantee of employment through the Employment Guarantee Act, 1977. The guarantee of work is restricted to unskilled manual work. In 1983-84, 164.5 million mandays of employment were reported to have been generated. There are also schemes by other State Governments for the benefit of the unempolyed whereby training, financial assistance and other incentives are provided. The backlog of unemployment at the outset of the Seventh Plan has been estimated at 9.2 million for the age-group 5-plus. It has also been seen that the net addition to the labour force in this age-group would be 39.38 million. These figures indicate the overall magnitude of employment to be generated in the Seventh Plan. The Seventh Plan envisages a growth rate of 5 per cent in GDP. Besides the sectoral programmes, the package of poverty alleviation programmes aimed at giving self-employment and wage employment to the poorer sections of the community will continue on a significant scale during the Seventh Plan. It is expected that additional employment of the order of 40.36 million standard person years would be generated during the Seventh Plan with an implied growth rate of 3.99 per cent per annum. The special employment programmes of NREP and RLEGP would generate 2.26 million standard person years of employment in 1989-90. The employment generation from IRDP has been estimated at 3 million SPY, mainly concentrated in agriculture and other sectors. The projected growth rate of employment between 1984-85 and 1989-90 is given in Table.
TABLE
Projected Growth of Employment : 1984-85 to 1989-90
|Sl No |Sector |Employment in million standard person year |Annual growth of |
| | | |employment (per cent) |
| | |1984-85 |1989-90 |Increase | |
|1 |Agriculture |96108 |114092 |17984 |349 |
| |(a) Crop sector |58750 |65720 |6970 |226 |
| |(b) Non-crop sector |37358 |48372 |11 014 |530 |
|2 |Mining and quarrying |1 153 |1 494 |0341 |532 |
|3 |Manufacturing |26790 |33466 |6676 |455 |
|4 |Construction |10427 |12624 |2197 |390 |
|5 |Electricity |1 031 |1 498 |0467 |776 |
|6 |Railways |1 544 |1 688 |0 144 |1 80 |
|7 |Other transport |9440 |11 810 |2370 |458 |
|8 |Communication |0951 |1 224 |0273 |518 |
|9 |Other services |39261 |49 165 |9904 |460 |
| |TOTAL |186705 |227 061 |40356 |399 |
With the spread of the green revolution, there has been increasing demand for immigrant agricultural labour in the peak operational seasons. The additional employment created during these seasons has led to an upward pressure on wage rates and has meant a welcome addition to the incomes of landless labourers in the backward areas. The approach to farm mechanisation will have to be carefully regulated so as to ensure that this demand for immigrant labour is not adversely affected. Since the combined harvester is a major labour-displacing factor of production in agriculture, the existing policy of discouraging expansion of its manufacturing capacity will have to be continued. It has been noticed that from time to time there arise temporary shortages of labour in particular areas (even though there is a general surplus of unskilled/ semi-skilled labour in the country as a whole), and such shortages tend to encourage mechanisation of operations in farming as well as in construction projects. Greater inter-regional mobility of labour would serve to counter the above tendency. Hence, the migration of labour from the less prosperous areas to the more prosperous ones, which is already taking place during the transplanting and harvesting seasons, should be fostered with appropriate policies.
Employment Potential of Sectoral Programmes The employment potential/implications of sectoral investments/programmes would be as follows:
(i) Substantial employment would be generated in rural areas through (a) development of irrigated farming and optimum utilisation of the irrigation potential; (b) propagation of the available technologies in dryland/rainfed farming; (c) special programmes for increasing the production of rice, coarse grains, pulses and oilseeds; (d) special programmes for landstock improvement for the utilisation of cultivable wastelands and areas suffering from various problems like alkalinity, salinity and water-logging; (e) intensification of horticulture development in hill or tribal areas and also in wastelands and dry regions; (f) acceleration of the programmes relating to animal husbandry and dairy farming; (g) expansion of activities in the fisheries sector for tapping the vast production potential;and (h) intensification of developmental activity in afforestation.
(ii) The focus of industrial development in the Seventh Plan will be on upgradation of technology, modernisation of equipment, better utilisation of assets and promotion of efficiency. The Plan lays emphasis on adequate growth of sectors like fertilisers, pesticides and essential agricultural machinery to sustain the growth in agricultural production, as also on sizeable increases in the production of wage goods and essentials of mass consumption like surgar, vegetables, oils, drugs, textiles and paper and commonly used consumer durables. This would lead to the creation of considerable employment opportunities in the large, medium and small-scale industry, both in the public and private sectors of the economy. A major thrust to be given in the area of sunrise industries is the development of the electronics industry which would provide employment on a large scale, particularly in the small-scale sector. Automotive industry is another sector which is likely to achieve considerable growth in the Seventh Plan. The development of this industry would provide substantial employment opportunities in the ancilliary and services sector. At the same time, the substantial expansion of output of wage goods would enable the economy to sustain the additional employment wihout inflation.
(iii) In view of the limited potential of the organised industrial sector to absorb increases in the labour force, small-scale industries and the rural non-farm sector will have to play an important role in generating additional employment. As already suggested, there would be substantial employment creation through rural works programmes. In addition, it is expected that if the traditional skills of rural artisans are upgraded and their competitiveness is improved, the rural industrial sub-sector would provide more
(iv) Irrigation, flood control and C.A.D. programmes are employment-oriented programmes as these provide large employment opportunities in the rural areas, particularly for the weaker sections like the landless labour. The activities under the irrigation and C.A.D. sectors which offer large employment potential are (a) canal works of major and medium projects in which dam construction is substantially complete while the canals are lagging behind; (b) complete on-farm development works, field channels permanent avenues of employment. The handloom industry is the largest single cottage industry in terms of employment. It is estimated to have employed roughly 75 lakh persons in 1984-85 and is likely to provide additional employment of around 24 lakh persons during the Seventh Plan. A Textile Policy has been announced recently, which inter alia, spells out various measures for the development of the handloom industry in order to preserve the unique role of the handloom and enable the industry to realise its full potential and to ensure higher earning for the handloom workers.and drainage channels of C.A.D. works; (c) minor irrigation works; and (d) flood control, embankment and anti-erosion works to protect river-banks.
(v) Housing is a highly employment intensive activity. The step-up of investment in housing envisaged during the Seventh Plan would provide employment on a large scale, especially in urban and semi-urban areas.
(vi) Since transport has to be geared to the production and employment targets of other sectors, a model choice based exclusively on employment generation can jeopardise the whole production and employment generation programme of the country. Among the various sub-sectors of the transport sector, the scope for employment generation is largest in respect of (a) rural roads, (b) inland water transport (countryboats), (c) road transport, and (d) ship building, ship repair and ship-breaking industries.
Stage Two
Various situations have caused the problem of unemployment in India. Some of them are: • Age • Vocational unfitness and physical disabilities • Enormous increase in the population • Often bad companies close their door making employed people unemployed • The increase of technology and computerization causing problems on job opportunities
Some of the remedies in order to solve unemployment in India are: • Augmentation of productivity and income of the poor and the creation of opportunities for self-employed
Efforts
India, with a vast population of over 1,000 million individuals, is facing the biggest problem of the century in the form of unemployment of worthy and productive citizens.
This includes unemployment and under-employment of the young and the old. This results in low productivity and nil or very low incomes. This also leads to the further degradation of household standards and poverty is perpetuated.
There is a net loss of national income and the economy suffers on account of low productivity. Add to this, the violent measures taken up by the youth, agitations and individual frustration, which reaches a new pinnacle every day.
According to the latest estimates, there are 37.6 million people on the streets and seek employment in one form or the other. There is an addition or 7 million people to this figure every year.
A leisure oriented and unemployed person is a burden on his family and society. The unemployed man eschews all the morals and becomes a rebel. Some young person’s take to drugs and illegal means of making money. Therefore, one men leads to another and the unemployed person gets caught 1 quagmire of crises.
Unemployment is more prominent in urban areas is in rural India. Unemployment or under-employment levels for women are higher than those for men. Further, the educated individuals tend to be more unemployed or underemployed than their illiterate counterparts.
According to current estimates, 12 per cent of educated individuals are unemployed whereas overall unemployment percentage is 3.77 per cent. It has also been noticed that the unemployment rates rise with every successive higher level of education.
Unemployment has two aspects — rural unemployment and urban unemployment. Rural unemployment is either seasonal or disguised. Seasonal unemployment in rural area results due to crop rotation and disguised unemployment is the underemployment due to the lack of proper opportunities at the rural level. Urban unemployment is either industrial or educated unemployment.
The industry refuses to accept engineers, chartered accountants, management graduates and other technically trained professionals who arrive from rural or semi-rural backgrounds.
The educated unemployed are the individuals who are either unemployed due to their high qualifications or are underemployed as a result of the wrong job profiles they are in. In either case, frustration forces them to shift to a new job, which could make them either underemployed or unemployed.
According to the Planning Commission and National Sample Survey, the number of unemployed is highest in the age group of 19 to 26 years. The total number of unemployed persons in India today is nearly 380 lakh.
Some of the measures taken by the State have been appended as follows: –
(1) The State is encouraging labour-intensive industry so that more individuals could be employed.
(2) The emphasis is being laid on agriculture, agro-based industries and cottage industries. The small scale industries also fall under this category.
(3) A number of employment programmes have been initiated IRDP’ JRY’ HRY’ SEPVP are some of the main programmes by the government.
(4) Vocational education is being stressed upon to eliminate the unemployment menace. A young graduate, who has studied Shakespeare, world do no good in an office, which expects to know Microsoft Windows 98, wordprocessing and efficient file handling.
That is why, the graduate immigrant, can find jobs only as peons in the cities. Vocational education can make them adept at one particular skill so that they could start contributing from day one.
(5) Many of the unemployed individuals are from backward classes. State employs them through special recruitment drives/the newspapers and magazines advertise these vacancies regularly. “Employment News”reflects this effort of the government.
(6) State Governments have set up Employment Generation Councils, which look after the employment needs of their respective districts.
(7) The Ninth Five Year Plan lays adequate stress on the measures for reducing the already high unemployment levels in the country.
The measures taken during the Eighth Five Year Plan were supposed to result in GDP growth of 5,6 per cent during the plan period. The total number of employment opportunities created was nearly 9 million during the Eighth Five Year Plan.
If the target for Ninth Five Year Plan is implemented properly, we could see 9.5 million employment opportunities during the next few years. Thus unemployment levels could reduce to negligible levels by the year 2002.
Private sector jobs must be made open to the needy and not-so-deserving candidates on human grounds. Physically and mentally handicapped persons-already being looked after by the central and state employment agencies must be given adequate opportunities in the private sector as well.
Another aspect of unemployment is the lure of the good standards of life in the cities. A son of a farmer, who could work hard in his village and could even own a car, goes to nearest city and finds himself a job of a clerk or a sales executive. This trend is not healthy, If the entire pop migrates to the cities, who would manage our agric which is the oldest and time-tested profession?
The State must contribute by launching more infrastructure based projects and core sector units. The wasted crop lands should be cultivated and should be issued only to the landless unemployed people. Private sector should launch more process industries, which employ large number of skilled and semi- ‘killed people in the rural areas. Going abroad is a profitable 5 position only for the computer programmers, engineers, nurses, paramedical staff and skilled labourers. Others could find better opportunities in India as grass is no longer greener in the West and the middle East.
The present state of Indian economy does not offer good opportunities on the employment front. However, it is expected that the budget proposed by the Finance Minister— Mr Yashwant Sinha— would go a long way in removing the unemployment problems of the masses. The industrial growth rate was 6.2 per cent during 1999-2000.
Our Finance Minister hopes that the economy would revive after a brief period of uncertainties. Unemployment would be eliminated only if the industry and business, of the nation pick up. During April- December, 1999, Indian economy has shown signs of improvement.
Further, the Finance Minister has laid more thrust on the rural and agricultural sectors in his budget speech. These areas could generate a good number of the self-employment opportunities for the rural masses. Hence, migration to cities could be checked. The unemployed youth would try to remain at their villages or home towns.
Finally, the State must sponsor schemes for small scale entrepreneurship for the semi-illiterate and the illiterate people. Already, many schemes are in vogue but these need to be tuned to the needs of the unemployed. Red tape and curruption in government departments prevent the funds from being granted to the needy entrepreneurs.
The youth should start small enterprises or manufacturing units of their own with the help of funds from the central and state funding agenicies as well as from Rural Regional Banks.
They would also be able to give employment to a few more persons if they become entrepreneurs. We must conclude by stating that at unemployment issue must be tackled with utmost care and seriousness as it has already assumed alarming proportion in the social and economic scenarious of our nation.
Stage Three
Cause of Unemployment :- • Limited land
• Seasonal Agriculture:
• Fragmentation of land:
• Decline of Cottage Industries:
• Inadequate Employment Planning:
Efforts
Employment Strategy for the 11th Plan
The employment strategy for the 11th Plan should be such as to yield the following employment outcomes:
Additional Employment Opportunities over and above the Autonomous Employment created in the base line scenario
i) At least 10 million more agricultural workers should find gainful employment in non agricultural activities than in the normal trends scenario.
ii) In the unorganized sector, micro and village enterprises in rural areas should provide non-farm employment to at least 25 million more persons, compared to the baseline scenario, during the Plan.
iii) Private organized establishments should absorb 8 million more workers, over and above 2 million, which in any case would occur under normal growth in the baseline scenario.
iv) Government and public establishments should absorb, at least 2 million more workers over and above the normal growth of 3 million through the ongoing programmes in education and health.
Employment outcome of the strategy cannot and should not always be seen in terms of more of the same kind of employment. The types of employment outcomes required at sectoral levels vary from sector to sector. Broadly these are of the following types:
a. Better wage levels, and better income of the self employed workers
b. Reducing income uncertainity
c. Improvement in the physical environment of work
d. Better ability to cope with the risks to life and health i.e., a better risk cover – social security
e. More employment of a better quality.
The Steering Committee emphasises on an approach that sensitises the various development programmes to their employment outcomes measured as outlined above. The Report of the Working Group has identified a number of developmental initiatives of the 11th Plan
Approach in regard to:
i) Development programmes for agricultural activities ii) The Public Sector flagship programmes iii)The Private Corporate Sector iv)The Unorganised Sector
v) Programmes that have a direct bearing on rural non-farm employment, and , vi)The Livelihood Sector.
Population, food security, education and remunerative employment opportunities are closely interconnected. Rising levels of education and rising living standards are powerful levers for reducing birth and mortality rates. India has met the challenge of producing sufficient food to feed everyone, but it has yet to meet the challenge of generating sufficient employment opportunities to ensure that all its people have the purchasing power to obtain the food they require. Gainful employment is one of the most essential conditions for food security and economic security. Conversely, food security is an essential requirement for raising the productivity of India’s workforce to international levels .
India’s labour force has reached 485 million approximately in 2009, and it will continue to expand over the next two decades. The actual rate of that expansion will depend on several factors including population growth, growth of the working age population, labour force participation rates, educational enrolment at higher levels and school drop-out rates. Projections based on these parameters indicate that India’s labour force will expand by 7 to 8.5 million per year during the first decade of this century, and will increase by a total of about 160-170 million by 2020, i.e., 2.0 percent per annum.
A glance at unemployment in INDIA
Total unemployment in India has been estimated to be about 35 million persons in
2002. This figure takes into account the significant level of underemployment and seasonal variations in the availability of work. It also reflects wide variations in the rate of unemployment among different age groups and regions of the country. Approximately three-fourth of the unemployed are in rural areas and three-fifth among them are educated. The recent trends towards shedding excess labour to improve competitiveness and increasing capital intensity have further aggravated the situation. A clear consensus is now emerging that major changes in economic policy and strategy will be needed to meet the country’s employment needs.
Future rates of unemployment will depend on a range of factors, including the growth rate of the labour force and changes in the structure of employment between different sectors, as well as the growth rate of the economy. Adopting the higher number takes us closer to understanding the full magnitude of the challenge the country faces for providing employment opportunities for all its people. India needs to generate on the order of 200 million additional employment opportunities over the next 20 years.
The first question that inevitably arises is whether generating nine or ten million jobs a year is feasible, and that naturally begets the question of what rates of economic growth would be required for achieving this. However logical and inevitable it may sound, we believe this is the wrong way to approach the problem. The right question to ask is: How important is it to us as a nation to create employment opportunities for all? The answer here is simple. It is extremely important. It is as important to create job opportunities for all citizens in a market economy as it is to provide universal suffrage to all adults in a democracy. Access to employment is an essential component of freedom of economic choice. Absence of such opportunity means depriving our young not only of economic freedom but of hope as well.
“India’s vision for 2020 must be founded on the premise of gainful Jobs for All. Access to employment should not only be a top priority of the government but a constitutionally guaranteed fundamental human right”.
Thus, it reflects the availability of unemployment in current India scenario,so we, the nation, that have to decide what we want to accomplish and how serious we are sorting out the problem of unemployment in our country. How willing we are to change our attitudes and to alter our policies to achieve this desirable goal. We conclude that if the will and determination are present, the goal is achievable.
Achieving full employment will require a reorientation of national priorities, technology policy and government action. As we have incorporated an environmental analysis into all our planning, every plan initiative needs also to be re-evaluated to consider its impact on employment.
Objectives of study
The unemployment scenario in India has always been quite acute. With a huge population and slow growth of job opportunities, unemployment has been widespread in India. Large scale unemployment has led to several socio-economic problems like poverty, malnutrition, antisocial and criminal activities, drug and substance abuse, etc. The lack of proper unemployment insurance schemes has further aggravated this problem.
The problem of unemployment has becoming a colossal. Various problems have caused this problem. There are individual factors like age, vocational unfitness and physical disabilities which restrict the people.
The objective of proposed paper is categorized in two types of objectives , Intial and secondary.
Initial Objective : To enlighten the causes of unemployment in India
Secondary objective :
1) To provide the views on unemployment problem in India.
2) To enlighten the efforts towards the removal of unemployment problem in India.
3) To raise the vision towards the categories of unemployment in present India.
Causes of unemployment : Stagewise
Overview of unemployment - In proposed paper we have categorized the unemployment scenario in three stages, which covers three decades of time intervals.
|1981 – 1990 |1991 – 2000 |2001 - 2010 |
|Rapid Population Growth |Form of unemployment of worthy and productive |Immigration of rural youth to the urban areas |
| |citizens | |
|Seasonal Agriculture |Rapid Population Growth |Ceiling of land |
|Fragmentation of land |Slow rate of employment opportunies from |Improper implementation of Government policies|
| |government |towards the rural and backward areas |
|Backward Method of Agriculture |Implementation of employment through cottage |Lack of support to new entrepreneurs through |
| |industries, small scale industries are |Govt and SHG’s |
| |comparatively less. | |
|Decline of Cottage Industries |Uneven distribution of job opportunites in new |Introduction of extreme high standard of |
| |constituted states e.g. Jharkhand Chattisgarh |education pattern through the Govt. |
| |etc | |
|Defective education |Inadequate Employment Planning |4 years of Relaxation in the age of retirement.|
|Lack of transport and communication |Fragmentation of land |Nature of job switching through one to another |
|Inadequate Employment Planning |Improper role of employment exchanges |Uncertainty in job selection of youth |
| |throughout the nation | |
1) From 1981 – 1990
2) From 1991 – 2000
3) From 2001 - 2010
As per the above chart we are detailing the causes of unemployment in India in the next part of paper:-
It is obvious that the unemployment situation is grim indeed. It has, therefore, to be tackled with appropriate measures and on an urgent basis. However, before we discussed the ways and means of removing unemployment, it is necessary that we understand the causes that given rise to it. The major causes which have been responsible for the wide spread unemployment can be spelt out as under.
Stage I: 1981 – 1990
1) Rapid Population Growth:
It is the leading cause of unemployment in Rural India. In India, particularly in rural areas, the population is increasing rapidly. It has adversely affected the unemployment situation largely in two ways. In the first place, the growth of population directly encouraged the unemployment by making large addition to labour force. It is because the rate of job expansion could never have been as high as population growth would have required.
2) Seasonal Agriculture:
In Rural Society agriculture is the only means of employment. However, most of the rural people are engaged directly as well as indirectly in agricultural operation. But, agriculture in India is basically a seasonal affair. It provides employment facilities to the rural people only in a particular season of the year.
3) Fragmentation of land:
In India, due to the heavy pressure on land of large population results the fragmentation of land. It creates a great obstacle in the part of agriculture. As land is fragmented and agricultural work is being hindered the people who depend on agriculture remain unemployed. This has an adverse effect on the employment situation. It also leads to the poverty of villagers.
4) Backward Method of Agriculture:
The method of agriculture in India is very backward. Till now, the rural farmers followed the old farming methods. As a result, the farmer cannot feed properly many people by the produce of his farm and he is unable to provide his children with proper education or to engage them in any profession. It leads to unemployment problem.
5) Decline of Cottage Industries:
In Rural India, village or cottage industries are the only mans of employment particularly of the landless people. They depend directly on various cottage industries for their livelihood. But, now-a-days, these are adversely affected by the industrialisation process. Actually, it is found that they cannot compete with modern factories in matter or production. As a result of which the village industries suffer a serious loss and gradually closing down. Owing to this, the people who work in there remain unemployed and unable to maintain their livelihood.
6) Defective education:
The day-to-day education is very defective and is confirmed within the class room only. Its main aim is to acquire certificated only. The present educational system is not job oriented, it is degree oriented. It is defective on the ground that is more general then the vocational. Thus, the people who have getting general education are unable to do any work. They are to be called as good for nothing in the ground that they cannot have any job here, they can find the ways of self employment. It leads to unemployment as well as underemployment.
7) Lack of transport and communication:
In India particularly in rural areas, there are no adequate facilities of transport and communication. Owing to this, the village people who are not engaged in agricultural work are remained unemployed. It is because they are unable to start any business for their livelihood and they are confined only within the limited boundary of the village. It is noted that the modern means of transport and communication are the only way to trade and commerce. Since there is lack of transport and communication in rural areas, therefore, it leads to unemployment problem among the villagers.
8) Inadequate Employment Planning:
The employment planning of the government is not adequate in comparison to population growth. In India near about two lakh people are added yearly to our existing population. But the employment opportunities did not increase according to the proportionate rate of population growth. As a consequence, a great difference is visible between the job opportunities and population growth.
On the other hand it is a very difficult task on the part of the Government to provide adequate job facilities to all the people. Besides this, the government also does not take adequate step in this direction. The faulty employment planning of the Government expedites this problem to a great extent. As a result the problem of unemployment is increasing day by day.
Stage II : 1991 – 2000
1) Form of unemployment of worthy and productive citizens :
2) Growth Rapid Population: It is the leading cause of unemployment in Rural India. In India, particularly in rural areas, the population is increasing rapidly. It has adversely affected the unemployment situation largely in two ways. In the first place, the growth of population directly encouraged the unemployment by making large addition to labour force. It is because the rate of job expansion could never have been as high as population growth would have required.
3) Slow rate of employment opportunies from government : Due to discrimination of opportunies in various department of Indian Govt. there were lack of announcement of recruitment from Indian govt. in this particular Era.
4) Implementation of employment through cottage industries, small scale industries are comparatively less: In this particular time duration a less focus on Indian cottage industries and other small scale industries. They fought for their basic needs and resources for their survival.
5) Uneven distribution of job opportunites in new constituted states e.g. Jharkhand Chattisgarh etc. :- This was very tough that in a very beginning stage Govt. announced the different jobs in different sectors of Govt. department and there were very less recruitment offers were available from the private sector.
6) Inadequate Employment Planning : The employment planning of the government is not adequate in comparison to population growth. In India near about two lakh people are added yearly to our existing population. But the employment opportunities did not increase according to the proportionate rate of population growth. As a consequence, a great difference is visible between the job opportunities and population growth.
On the other hand it is a very difficult task on the part of the Government to provide adequate job facilities to all the people. Besides this, the government also does not take adequate step in this direction. The faulty employment planning of the Government expedites this problem to a great extent. As a result the problem of unemployment is increasing day by day.
7) Fragmentation of land : In India, due to the heavy pressure on land of large population results the fragmentation of land. It creates a great obstacle in the part of agriculture. As land is fragmented and agricultural work is being hindered the people who depend on agriculture remain unemployed. This has an adverse effect on the employment situation. It also leads to the poverty of villagers.
8) Improper role of employment exchanges throughout the nation : Not only the Indian youth are not aware to registered themselves in Govt. employment exchanges but the working of employment exchange are weakened also in comparison to other job searching institutes.
Stage II : 2001 – 2010
1) Immigration of rural youth to the urban areas : Due to vital role of media in different sectors of job opportunities with ample amount of information and communication, the rural youth has diverted from their ancestral jobs like farming ,cattle and dairy business etc. so they were moved to nearby urban areas for livelihood.
2) Ceiling of land : The criteria of ceiling land are diverting to all the rural people who were totally dependent on only source of their survival, off course “Land”. Hence they people never hesitated to move from their native places with full of risk.
3) Improper implementation of Government policies towards the rural and backward areas :
4) Lack of support to new entrepreneurs through Govt :
5) Introduction of extreme high standard of education pattern through the Govt. :
6) 4 years of Relaxation in the age of retirement :
7) Nature of job switching through one to another :
8) Uncertainty in job selection of youth :
Efforts
Estimates of Employment Generation: Achievement during the Sixth Plan and Anticipation for the Seventh Plan In the Sixth Plan document, overall employment was expected to grow from 151.11 million standard person years (SPY) in 1979-80 to 185.389 million SPY in 1984-85, i.e., an increase of 34.28 million SPY. It has now been estimated that the employment in 1984-85 would have been of the order of 186.705 million SPY implying an increase of 35.60 million SPY. The growth rate of employment generation during the Sixth Plan period works out to 4.32 per cent per annum. In addition to the sectoral investments during the Sixth Plan period which have resulted in an expansion of employment opportunities through the process of growth, there has been in operation important employment/ beneficiary oriented programmes for specific target groups such as the National Rural Employment Programme (NREP),.the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP), the Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP), the Training Scheme for Rural Youth for Self-Employment (TRYSEM), and the Scheme for providing Self-Employment to Educated Unemployed Youth. Briefly, the Special Employment Programmes as also the State Employment Programmes are as detailed below:
(i) The National Rural Employment Programme (NREP) aims at generating employment opportunities in the rural areas, simultaneously creating durable community assets for strengthening the rural infrastructure; it also seeks to improve the nutritional status and living standards of the rural poor. The programme operates in close conjunction with other developmental works. For the Sixth Five Year Plan, there was a provision of Rs. 980 crores in the Central sector and Rs. 640 crores in the States sector making a total of Rs. 1,620 crores for this programme. The progress of employment generation as a result of the execution of various works under the programme has been as follows: TABLE
Generation of Employment (million mandays)
|Year |Target |Achievement |
|1980-81 |— |413.58 |
|1981-82 |335.73 |354.52 |
|1982-83 |353.22 |351.20 |
|1983-84 |322.23 |302.76 |
|1984-85 |309.13 |352.31 |
(ii) During the Sixth Plan, it was felt that the hard core rural poverty, particularly that pertaining to the unemployment of the landless labourers during the lean agricultural season, had to be tackled in a more direct manner. Accordingly, a new scheme called the Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP) was introduced in 1983. The basic objectives of the programme are: (i) to improve and expand employment opportunities for rural landless with a view to providing guarantee of employment to at least one member of every landless labour household upto 100 days in a year; and (ii) creation of durable assets for strengthening the rural infrastructure which will lead to rapid growth of the rural economy. Assistance under the programme was provided to the State/UT Governments on 100 per cent grant basis. Funds amounting to Rs. 500 crores were allocated to them in the last two years of the Sixth Plan. It was originally expected that 360 million mandays of employment would be generated under the programme during the last two years of the Sixth Plan period, i.e., during 1983-85. As against this, 260.18 million mandays of employment were generated during those years.
(iii) The Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) is the single largest scheme for providing direct assistance to the rural poor and is meant for the poorest among the poor. Its objective is to provide productive assets and employment to the poor for enabling them to attain higher incomes and a better standard of living. The IRDP was expected to cover 15 million families to be identified in all the blocks of the country during the Sixth Plan period; on an average, 3000 families in a block were to be provided assistance through this programme. A sum of Rs. 1,500 crores was provided in the Plan as outlay for this programme. The banks were called upon to provide another Rs. 3,000 crores by way of loans to selected beneficiaries. Further, back-up facilities in infrastructure, community projects and assistance to voluntary agencies were also provided.
(iv) The Scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-Employment (TRYSEM) was initiated in 1979 with the principal objective of removing unemployment among the rural youth. The target was to train about 2 lakh rural youths every year at the rate of 40 youths per block of the country. The TRYSEM is an integrated part of the IRDP and aims at equipping the rural youth with skills to enable them to become self-employed. A rural youth from a family having an income of less than Rs. 3,500 per year was eligible for selection. Preference in selection was given to those who had aptitude for innovation and entrepreneurial activities. Priority was also given to members of SC/ST and women. The accepted mode of training is through institutions under master trainers. According to available information, 9.4 lakh rural youths received training under TRYSEM during the Sixth Plan. Around 50 per cent of them have taken up self-employment.
(v) The Scheme for Providing Self-employment to Educated Unemployed Youth was introduced in 1983 for providing self-employment to educated unemployed youth. The scheme provides for the grants of loan up to a maximum of Rs. 25,000 to educated youth residing in areas other than cities with a population of 10 lakh or more and having no other source of finance for settling down in self-employment. The implementation of the scheme was entrusted to the District Industries Centres under the guidance of the Development Commissioner for Small Scale Industries. An allocation of Rs. 25 crores was made for the programme during 1984-85 in the Central budget to cover Government assistance in the shape of an outright capital subsidy to the extent of 25 per cent of the loans taken by the entrepreneurs from the banks.
(vi) Some State Governments are implementing Special Employment Schemes to provide additional employment opportunities. The Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) of Maharashtra operating since 1972, is intended to provide employment on productive works to the workers desirous of rendering unskilled manual work and thereby reduce the incidence of unemployment, under employment and poverty in rural areas. The State Government gave a statutory backing to the guarantee of employment through the Employment Guarantee Act, 1977. The guarantee of work is restricted to unskilled manual work. In 1983-84, 164.5 million mandays of employment were reported to have been generated. There are also schemes by other State Governments for the benefit of the unempolyed whereby training, financial assistance and other incentives are provided. The backlog of unemployment at the outset of the Seventh Plan has been estimated at 9.2 million for the age-group 5-plus. It has also been seen that the net addition to the labour force in this age-group would be 39.38 million. These figures indicate the overall magnitude of employment to be generated in the Seventh Plan. The Seventh Plan envisages a growth rate of 5 per cent in GDP. Besides the sectoral programmes, the package of poverty alleviation programmes aimed at giving self-employment and wage employment to the poorer sections of the community will continue on a significant scale during the Seventh Plan. It is expected that additional employment of the order of 40.36 million standard person years would be generated during the Seventh Plan with an implied growth rate of 3.99 per cent per annum. The special employment programmes of NREP and RLEGP would generate 2.26 million standard person years of employment in 1989-90. The employment generation from IRDP has been estimated at 3 million SPY, mainly concentrated in agriculture and other sectors. The projected growth rate of employment between 1984-85 and 1989-90 is given in Table.
TABLE
Projected Growth of Employment : 1984-85 to 1989-90
|Sl No |Sector |Employment in million standard person year |Annual growth of |
| | | |employment (per cent) |
| | |1984-85 |1989-90 |Increase | |
|1 |Agriculture |96108 |114092 |17984 |349 |
| |(a) Crop sector |58750 |65720 |6970 |226 |
| |(b) Non-crop sector |37358 |48372 |11 014 |530 |
|2 |Mining and quarrying |1 153 |1 494 |0341 |532 |
|3 |Manufacturing |26790 |33466 |6676 |455 |
|4 |Construction |10427 |12624 |2197 |390 |
|5 |Electricity |1 031 |1 498 |0467 |776 |
|6 |Railways |1 544 |1 688 |0 144 |1 80 |
|7 |Other transport |9440 |11 810 |2370 |458 |
|8 |Communication |0951 |1 224 |0273 |518 |
|9 |Other services |39261 |49 165 |9904 |460 |
| |TOTAL |186705 |227 061 |40356 |399 |
With the spread of the green revolution, there has been increasing demand for immigrant agricultural labour in the peak operational seasons. The additional employment created during these seasons has led to an upward pressure on wage rates and has meant a welcome addition to the incomes of landless labourers in the backward areas. The approach to farm mechanisation will have to be carefully regulated so as to ensure that this demand for immigrant labour is not adversely affected. Since the combined harvester is a major labour-displacing factor of production in agriculture, the existing policy of discouraging expansion of its manufacturing capacity will have to be continued. It has been noticed that from time to time there arise temporary shortages of labour in particular areas (even though there is a general surplus of unskilled/ semi-skilled labour in the country as a whole), and such shortages tend to encourage mechanisation of operations in farming as well as in construction projects. Greater inter-regional mobility of labour would serve to counter the above tendency. Hence, the migration of labour from the less prosperous areas to the more prosperous ones, which is already taking place during the transplanting and harvesting seasons, should be fostered with appropriate policies.
Employment Potential of Sectoral Programmes The employment potential/implications of sectoral investments/programmes would be as follows:
(i) Substantial employment would be generated in rural areas through (a) development of irrigated farming and optimum utilisation of the irrigation potential; (b) propagation of the available technologies in dryland/rainfed farming; (c) special programmes for increasing the production of rice, coarse grains, pulses and oilseeds; (d) special programmes for landstock improvement for the utilisation of cultivable wastelands and areas suffering from various problems like alkalinity, salinity and water-logging; (e) intensification of horticulture development in hill or tribal areas and also in wastelands and dry regions; (f) acceleration of the programmes relating to animal husbandry and dairy farming; (g) expansion of activities in the fisheries sector for tapping the vast production potential;and (h) intensification of developmental activity in afforestation.
(ii) The focus of industrial development in the Seventh Plan will be on upgradation of technology, modernisation of equipment, better utilisation of assets and promotion of efficiency. The Plan lays emphasis on adequate growth of sectors like fertilisers, pesticides and essential agricultural machinery to sustain the growth in agricultural production, as also on sizeable increases in the production of wage goods and essentials of mass consumption like surgar, vegetables, oils, drugs, textiles and paper and commonly used consumer durables. This would lead to the creation of considerable employment opportunities in the large, medium and small-scale industry, both in the public and private sectors of the economy. A major thrust to be given in the area of sunrise industries is the development of the electronics industry which would provide employment on a large scale, particularly in the small-scale sector. Automotive industry is another sector which is likely to achieve considerable growth in the Seventh Plan. The development of this industry would provide substantial employment opportunities in the ancilliary and services sector. At the same time, the substantial expansion of output of wage goods would enable the economy to sustain the additional employment wihout inflation.
(iii) In view of the limited potential of the organised industrial sector to absorb increases in the labour force, small-scale industries and the rural non-farm sector will have to play an important role in generating additional employment. As already suggested, there would be substantial employment creation through rural works programmes. In addition, it is expected that if the traditional skills of rural artisans are upgraded and their competitiveness is improved, the rural industrial sub-sector would provide more
(iv) Irrigation, flood control and C.A.D. programmes are employment-oriented programmes as these provide large employment opportunities in the rural areas, particularly for the weaker sections like the landless labour. The activities under the irrigation and C.A.D. sectors which offer large employment potential are (a) canal works of major and medium projects in which dam construction is substantially complete while the canals are lagging behind; (b) complete on-farm development works, field channels permanent avenues of employment. The handloom industry is the largest single cottage industry in terms of employment. It is estimated to have employed roughly 75 lakh persons in 1984-85 and is likely to provide additional employment of around 24 lakh persons during the Seventh Plan. A Textile Policy has been announced recently, which inter alia, spells out various measures for the development of the handloom industry in order to preserve the unique role of the handloom and enable the industry to realise its full potential and to ensure higher earning for the handloom workers.and drainage channels of C.A.D. works; (c) minor irrigation works; and (d) flood control, embankment and anti-erosion works to protect river-banks.
(v) Housing is a highly employment intensive activity. The step-up of investment in housing envisaged during the Seventh Plan would provide employment on a large scale, especially in urban and semi-urban areas.
(vi) Since transport has to be geared to the production and employment targets of other sectors, a model choice based exclusively on employment generation can jeopardise the whole production and employment generation programme of the country. Among the various sub-sectors of the transport sector, the scope for employment generation is largest in respect of (a) rural roads, (b) inland water transport (countryboats), (c) road transport, and (d) ship building, ship repair and ship-breaking industries.
Stage Two
Various situations have caused the problem of unemployment in India. Some of them are: • Age • Vocational unfitness and physical disabilities • Enormous increase in the population • Often bad companies close their door making employed people unemployed • The increase of technology and computerization causing problems on job opportunities
Some of the remedies in order to solve unemployment in India are: • Augmentation of productivity and income of the poor and the creation of opportunities for self-employed
Efforts
India, with a vast population of over 1,000 million individuals, is facing the biggest problem of the century in the form of unemployment of worthy and productive citizens.
This includes unemployment and under-employment of the young and the old. This results in low productivity and nil or very low incomes. This also leads to the further degradation of household standards and poverty is perpetuated.
There is a net loss of national income and the economy suffers on account of low productivity. Add to this, the violent measures taken up by the youth, agitations and individual frustration, which reaches a new pinnacle every day.
According to the latest estimates, there are 37.6 million people on the streets and seek employment in one form or the other. There is an addition or 7 million people to this figure every year.
A leisure oriented and unemployed person is a burden on his family and society. The unemployed man eschews all the morals and becomes a rebel. Some young person’s take to drugs and illegal means of making money. Therefore, one men leads to another and the unemployed person gets caught 1 quagmire of crises.
Unemployment is more prominent in urban areas is in rural India. Unemployment or under-employment levels for women are higher than those for men. Further, the educated individuals tend to be more unemployed or underemployed than their illiterate counterparts.
According to current estimates, 12 per cent of educated individuals are unemployed whereas overall unemployment percentage is 3.77 per cent. It has also been noticed that the unemployment rates rise with every successive higher level of education.
Unemployment has two aspects — rural unemployment and urban unemployment. Rural unemployment is either seasonal or disguised. Seasonal unemployment in rural area results due to crop rotation and disguised unemployment is the underemployment due to the lack of proper opportunities at the rural level. Urban unemployment is either industrial or educated unemployment.
The industry refuses to accept engineers, chartered accountants, management graduates and other technically trained professionals who arrive from rural or semi-rural backgrounds.
The educated unemployed are the individuals who are either unemployed due to their high qualifications or are underemployed as a result of the wrong job profiles they are in. In either case, frustration forces them to shift to a new job, which could make them either underemployed or unemployed.
According to the Planning Commission and National Sample Survey, the number of unemployed is highest in the age group of 19 to 26 years. The total number of unemployed persons in India today is nearly 380 lakh.
Some of the measures taken by the State have been appended as follows: –
(1) The State is encouraging labour-intensive industry so that more individuals could be employed.
(2) The emphasis is being laid on agriculture, agro-based industries and cottage industries. The small scale industries also fall under this category.
(3) A number of employment programmes have been initiated IRDP’ JRY’ HRY’ SEPVP are some of the main programmes by the government.
(4) Vocational education is being stressed upon to eliminate the unemployment menace. A young graduate, who has studied Shakespeare, world do no good in an office, which expects to know Microsoft Windows 98, wordprocessing and efficient file handling.
That is why, the graduate immigrant, can find jobs only as peons in the cities. Vocational education can make them adept at one particular skill so that they could start contributing from day one.
(5) Many of the unemployed individuals are from backward classes. State employs them through special recruitment drives/the newspapers and magazines advertise these vacancies regularly. “Employment News”reflects this effort of the government.
(6) State Governments have set up Employment Generation Councils, which look after the employment needs of their respective districts.
(7) The Ninth Five Year Plan lays adequate stress on the measures for reducing the already high unemployment levels in the country.
The measures taken during the Eighth Five Year Plan were supposed to result in GDP growth of 5,6 per cent during the plan period. The total number of employment opportunities created was nearly 9 million during the Eighth Five Year Plan.
If the target for Ninth Five Year Plan is implemented properly, we could see 9.5 million employment opportunities during the next few years. Thus unemployment levels could reduce to negligible levels by the year 2002.
Private sector jobs must be made open to the needy and not-so-deserving candidates on human grounds. Physically and mentally handicapped persons-already being looked after by the central and state employment agencies must be given adequate opportunities in the private sector as well.
Another aspect of unemployment is the lure of the good standards of life in the cities. A son of a farmer, who could work hard in his village and could even own a car, goes to nearest city and finds himself a job of a clerk or a sales executive. This trend is not healthy, If the entire pop migrates to the cities, who would manage our agric which is the oldest and time-tested profession?
The State must contribute by launching more infrastructure based projects and core sector units. The wasted crop lands should be cultivated and should be issued only to the landless unemployed people. Private sector should launch more process industries, which employ large number of skilled and semi- ‘killed people in the rural areas. Going abroad is a profitable 5 position only for the computer programmers, engineers, nurses, paramedical staff and skilled labourers. Others could find better opportunities in India as grass is no longer greener in the West and the middle East.
The present state of Indian economy does not offer good opportunities on the employment front. However, it is expected that the budget proposed by the Finance Minister— Mr Yashwant Sinha— would go a long way in removing the unemployment problems of the masses. The industrial growth rate was 6.2 per cent during 1999-2000.
Our Finance Minister hopes that the economy would revive after a brief period of uncertainties. Unemployment would be eliminated only if the industry and business, of the nation pick up. During April- December, 1999, Indian economy has shown signs of improvement.
Further, the Finance Minister has laid more thrust on the rural and agricultural sectors in his budget speech. These areas could generate a good number of the self-employment opportunities for the rural masses. Hence, migration to cities could be checked. The unemployed youth would try to remain at their villages or home towns.
Finally, the State must sponsor schemes for small scale entrepreneurship for the semi-illiterate and the illiterate people. Already, many schemes are in vogue but these need to be tuned to the needs of the unemployed. Red tape and curruption in government departments prevent the funds from being granted to the needy entrepreneurs.
The youth should start small enterprises or manufacturing units of their own with the help of funds from the central and state funding agenicies as well as from Rural Regional Banks.
They would also be able to give employment to a few more persons if they become entrepreneurs. We must conclude by stating that at unemployment issue must be tackled with utmost care and seriousness as it has already assumed alarming proportion in the social and economic scenarious of our nation.
Stage Three
Cause of Unemployment :- • Limited land
• Seasonal Agriculture:
• Fragmentation of land:
• Decline of Cottage Industries:
• Inadequate Employment Planning:
Efforts
Employment Strategy for the 11th Plan
The employment strategy for the 11th Plan should be such as to yield the following employment outcomes:
Additional Employment Opportunities over and above the Autonomous Employment created in the base line scenario
i) At least 10 million more agricultural workers should find gainful employment in non agricultural activities than in the normal trends scenario.
ii) In the unorganized sector, micro and village enterprises in rural areas should provide non-farm employment to at least 25 million more persons, compared to the baseline scenario, during the Plan.
iii) Private organized establishments should absorb 8 million more workers, over and above 2 million, which in any case would occur under normal growth in the baseline scenario.
iv) Government and public establishments should absorb, at least 2 million more workers over and above the normal growth of 3 million through the ongoing programmes in education and health.
Employment outcome of the strategy cannot and should not always be seen in terms of more of the same kind of employment. The types of employment outcomes required at sectoral levels vary from sector to sector. Broadly these are of the following types:
a. Better wage levels, and better income of the self employed workers
b. Reducing income uncertainity
c. Improvement in the physical environment of work
d. Better ability to cope with the risks to life and health i.e., a better risk cover – social security
e. More employment of a better quality.
The Steering Committee emphasises on an approach that sensitises the various development programmes to their employment outcomes measured as outlined above. The Report of the Working Group has identified a number of developmental initiatives of the 11th Plan
Approach in regard to:
i) Development programmes for agricultural activities ii) The Public Sector flagship programmes iii)The Private Corporate Sector iv)The Unorganised Sector
v) Programmes that have a direct bearing on rural non-farm employment, and , vi)The Livelihood Sector.
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