Unemployment in India – A Social Conundrum

     Down the centuries and in every civilization, there has been this hot potato issue of unemployment. Some have been able to deal with it better than others. In India we are still figuring out the way to deal with it in the best way possible. And while we do our figuring out, there are social repercussions that force us to take brave steps and do so in a hurry.

      Unemployment is a situation where a capable, willing workforce doesn't get work. There are basically three types of unemployment. Frictional unemployment which is those looking for their first job. This can be abated by spreading information on various job openings. Then there is seasonal unemployment which is specific to certain industries. This can be dealt with encouraging these people to take up alternative employment in the off season. Finally there is structural unemployment caused due to a change in structure of the economy, change in patterns of consumers and increasing technology. It is the most vicious. Yet it can be approached by providing retraining opportunities.

      In India, another stumbling block is overpopulation. 66% of the Indian population is under 35. This is the largest population of youth in the world. Added snag in the process of providing employment is the lack of a varied skill set even though the education levels have increased. There are also other forms to unemployment which include disguised unemployment, where many workers are employed for a small job and all appear to be employed; underemployment where a worker is not given work to his capacity and wages too are not in accordance to his capacity. In India, unemployment records are maintained by the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

      The effects of unemployment are varied. It causes hardship and frustration especially among the young people. It increases the burden on the family. The worst ramifications are the increase in crime related activities by youth to survive and earn a living. Another sad outcome is that the intelligent youth migrate to foreign countries for better opportunities.

     The government set up a committee headed by M. Bhagavati to suggest measures, and based on this study set up the following schemes to deal with unemployment: The Rural Works Programme, Agro-Service Centres, and Crash Programme for Rural Employment, National Rural Employment Programme and Food for Work Programme. These schemes are not progressing well owing to the rampant corruption, preparation of bogus musters, paying less than stipulated wages, bureaucracy in administration and lack of effective representation of poor in the implementation of the schemes.

      When we look at the quandary of unemployment and reflect on it, we can say that there is no simple solution but we could alter our outlook to life. We need to be focused more on skills and putting our theory in to practice. We need to see the dignity of work and eliminate the evil of unemployment. While we might not be able to provide easy solutions to such a complex solution, we could refurbish our educational setups to provide better skills training with more advanced techniques.

      We also need to look at our openness to do different kinds of work. Quite often due to our inherent thought pattern of the caste system, we are reluctant to do certain types of work which we feel is not ‘ours,’ or we are hesitant to change our occupation.

 Let us toil together to eradicate this social evil. As a country, as the young generation of India, we can do achieve any good that we agree to work towards. So, let’s strive to provide the best milieu for gainful employment and just wages.

 Cl. Swithin Moraes,sdb