UNEMPLOYMENT- A SOCIAL MISERY UPON INDIA

Thomas Carlyle said, “A man willing to work, and unable to find work, is perhaps the saddest sight that fortune’s inequality exhibits under this sun.” For a layman, unemployment means when a person does not have a job or does not work. However, economically speaking, unemployment means when a person is willing and able to work but is unable to find work. India has a majorly unemployed population. Does the question remain why such a vast country like India cannot produce sufficient employment for everyone? Is it because of the large population? Or the unavailability of resources? What exactly are the factors responsible for unemployment in the country?

REASONS FOR GROWING UNEMPLOYMENT IN INDIA :

About 65% of the Indian population lives in rural areas. They mostly depend upon agriculture for their livelihood. However, agriculture can only provide seasonal employment leaving a major chunk of the population unemployed. Another important reason for unemployment is the ever-increasing population. The rapid population growth has added to the labor force largely. Therefore, it has increased the labor supply but the insufficient job opportunities render them useless. Our traditional education system does not highlight the developmental needs of the country. It concentrates more on general education rather than vocational training. Slow economic growth has affected the employment generation capacity of the economy. This is because of the use of capital-intensive techniques in the non-agricultural sector. Capital intensive techniques generate less employment. The labor remains unused, thereby creating the problem of unemployment.

India recorded its highest unemployment rate in 2020 since 1991 as suggested by the Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA). The unemployment rate stood at 7.11% in 2022, a 1.84% increase from 2019.

SOME MEASURES TO GENERATE EMPLOYMENT :

At first, the government assumed that economic growth would generate enough employment for the entire population. So, till the Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-79), no policy was formulated. But there has been an increase in the number of unemployed persons over the years. The Government of India has initiated many public employment programs to reduce unemployment in the short run. The most important of these is the MGNREGA- Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act started in 2005. It is mandatory for the government to provide at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a year to every rural household that is willing to undertake unskilled manual work.

In 2015, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) was launched. It provides relevant, skill-based industrial training to Indian youth for a short period. In this, the youth is better trained for their respective skills. This broadens their horizon to earn a better living. The service sector constitutes more than 50% of the economy. There is a need to advance this sector as it is also the sector which generates the most employment.

Moreover, villages and small-scale industries should be given more self-employment opportunities. The government should take up the initiative to provide basic training, education, raw material, credit, etc. The education system of the country must be reconstructed. More emphasis should be on skill formation and vocational training to develop more efficient human capital. The need of the hour is to actively focus on the growing unemployment in the country. India needs to adopt stringent measures to minimize unemployment if it wants to pave its way towards a developed nation.

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