Does India have jobs to cater its unemployed individuals?
It’s a hardcore reality that unemployment has never said ‘goodbye’ to job seekers in India. However, it has been a liability of the government in-rule to avail jobs. But, every political party uses the job crisis as a credit to get a breakthrough in the upcoming general elections. Despite knowing the dire situation at the back of their mind, they often cover it up in one more promise, which is certainly not going to be true.

Employment dynamism: Recently, the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi denied publicizing the survey report by India’s National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) & its labour bureau. Perhaps, it spotlights a significant decline in employment that can prove an RDX to sabotage the dream of regaining the power. Besides, they try to take a refuge under the speedy spike in vehicle registration, professional service providers and sales of auto-rickshaws.

On being a frequent victim of fake promises, the job seeking community believes that there is little that has been done in the government job sector. The general elections are due in May, 2019, but the status of employment won’t be better.

However, the ruling government was aware of this fact. That’s why it came with the EWS amendment just ahead of elections. But still, there are many verticals that remain invulnerable. Their exposure can deplete unemployment or employment crisis in India.

1. 10% reservation: The current government has introduced a provision of 10% reservation under the EWS or Economically Weaker Section. Now, the economically disadvantaged group will be able to claim a reserved seat while applying for the government job. It can be a big hit to the general category’s candidate that dream about cracking the IAS or the UPSC govtjob examination. Even, many non-residents attempt to claim a sophisticated profile in India. But, the stringent law for NRIs prohibits them.

In the meantime, the state governments like Kerala have deliberately damaged the reservation laws. The Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) has manipulated reservation criteria by cornering 4% reservation for the Differently Abled Persons Welfare Federations (DAWF) since Jan 2019.

These kinds of provisions can’t let the government go off easily. People want employment. But, they can hit the bull’s eye due to lacking job opportunities.

1. Cut in central government jobs: There is a significant decline over the previous four years in the jobs. The job-seeker’s population is still swelling. But, the many of the government vacancies, as teaching jobs, banking jobs, PSC jobs, defence jobs or any other jobs, are still vacant.

What I mean is that the reservation laws and amendments could spell the magic if there were enough count of jobs in the government sector.

The fact is noteworthy that the employment sector is shrunk by over 75,000 jobs since 2014. The number of central staff is fallen down by 75,231 as per declaration in the Union Budget for 2018-19.

2. Fill up vacancies: The current projections spotlight around 2.4 million vacant positions in the central government ministries, department and public undertakings. Although the govt. has been projecting additional manpower of around 2 lakh every year, yet the real figure is far lesser. Consequently, the government agencies and organisations have been facing its consequences. It results in the detriment of their functioning. Schools and colleges are encountering scarcity of teachers. Hospitals are running out of the doctors, nurses and support staff. Much of the work is done by the ad hoc workers on the cheap. Thereby, the quality of the public service delivery declines.

Low salary for health & nutrition services: Have you ever visited the Anganwadis? They work the Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA), auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs), Anganwadi workers and midday meal providers. You will be dumbstruck after knowing their wage. It’s below the standard minimum wage. Also, their tenure is unsafe. They can be thrown out of their jobs at any point of time.

To counter the crisis of unemployment, the government should ensure that they get at least the minimum wages along with the security of their tenure. Moreover, it can stretch them to the level that was not set before. This expansion would certainly prove the opposite of the enfeebling employment.

1. 100 days of work under MGNREGA: The letter of the law viz. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) proposes a mandate to guarantee at least 100 days of work to rural households. And if they are not provided with the work, they can demand half the minimum wage as a payment of unemployment allowance.

So far, the state governments have been running out of funds. Hence, they carry over the large unpaid funds as deferred payment each year. As per the constitution, the law explicitly states that the money must be credited whenever there is a demand for work.But, the governments have been going against the law, deferring payments for the next financial year.

They find payment burdensome. Thereby, the idea of reducing an explicit demand for work gets encouraged.

There are many sectors and disciplines wherein residents and non-residents can seek a better job prospect in the government sector. But, the unorganised layout and no intentions to uplift the position of a job seeker are surging the crisis of unemployment.