AIR Spotlight: Government's Employment Generation Efforts

AIR Spotlight is an insightful program featured daily on the All India Radio News on air. In this program, many eminent panellists discuss issues of importance which can be quite helpful in IAS exam preparation.

This article is about the discussion on: ‘Rozgar Mela and Governments Efforts for Employment Generation’.

Participants:

• A.K. Bhattacharya: Economic Analyst
• Shishir Sinha: Journalist 

Context – Prime Minister Narendra Modi marked nine years of winning the 2014 Lok Sabha elections on May 16, 2014, by distributing 71,206 appointment letters at a ‘Rozgar Mela’. With this, the PM has handed out 359,000 appointment letters in five such events since October 2022. 

Rozgar Mela and Unemployment in the Country

The Rozgar Mela is an initiative of the central government to provide employment opportunities to the youth of the country.

• Every Indian belonging to the middle class and lower middle class aspires for a government job because of the various social benefits associated with such jobs – these jobs are traditionally very stable, have impressive pension and retirement benefits, offer work-life balance, etc. The distribution of 71,000 job letters or providing 10 lakh jobs (under the Rozgar Mela Scheme)  is laudable but it is not going to address the larger unemployment problem in the country. 
• The unemployment problem cannot be solved by creating jobs in the government sector, however, it can be addressed by creating more jobs in the private sector. The private sector is the engine for the growth of the economy. It is important for a developing country like India with a large, young population to generate quality employment and to move up the value chain.
• The government is spending more on the capital side of the economy by creating more infrastructure – roads, railways, airports, etc.  Capital expenditure in the 2023-24 Union Budget doubled from Rs 4.26 lakh crore ($58.2 billion) of actual expenditure in 2020-21 to Rs 10.01 lakh crore ($122 billion) budgeted in 2023-24. Capital spending creates more jobs and improves labour productivity as a result of the multiplier effect.

Around 10 lakh posts are vacant under various ministries and departments of the central government-

The filling up of the vacancies could provide great relief to the unemployed youth of the country. The state governments should also fill up the vacant posts and address the burning issue of unemployment.

• However, it is important to undertake a scientific and critical analysis of what is the actual number of vacancies in the government sector – both central and state governments. 
• Technology over the past few years has made certain jobs completely redundant and they can be done either by the use of technology or by people through multi-tasking. A proper assessment of the actual state of vacancies is needed.

Upskilling and Reskilling-

Upskilling and reskilling programs can improve employee engagement and retention, attract new talent, increase collaboration between departments and speed up the adoption of new trends within the company. 

• Upskilling facilitates continuous learning by providing training programs and learning opportunities that expand an employee’s abilities and minimise skill gaps.
• Upskilling focuses on improving current employee’s skill sets usually through training so that they can advance in their jobs and find different roles and opportunities within the company.
• The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has taken several initiatives to upgrade and upskill the youth of the country. There is more than enough evidence that upskilling the already employed workforce could lead to greater productivity in the economy, higher incomes for workers, and higher profitability for firms.

Attraction towards government jobs –

The Indian government has launched various schemes over the last few years to promote a culture of entrepreneurship and startups in the country – Startup India, Mudra Scheme, Stand Up India, etc. Despite these, a major chunk of youth is attracted towards government jobs. The following factors make government jobs more enticing –

• Secure employment
• Holidays and leaves
• Less work stress
• Leaves and holidays 
• Free allowances
• Pension provision

Old Pension Scheme (OPS) & New/National Pension Scheme (NPS) 

The central and state government employees have been engaged in a prolonged struggle against the National Pension Scheme (NPS), demanding the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). As a result, many state governments (Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab and Rajasthan) have conveyed their decision to the Central Government and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) to reintroduce the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for their state government employees.

• The pension amount under OPS is formula based and is linked to the last salary drawn by an employee, providing certainty to the latter but imposing a contractual obligation on the Government to provide a defined amount to the employee so long as he/she/dependent is alive.
• In NPS, the pension amount due to the employee is subject to variation in the returns of the scheme in which the funds are invested, while the State’s liability is limited to making the defined contribution.
• A committee has been set up by the government to review the NPS amid demands from a section of employees and the decision by some states to revert to OPS. 
• There is a need to find a middle path between the two pension schemes, wherein some benefits are provided to employees under NPS in order to make it comparable, if not the same with the OPS. 

Conclusion – The creation of employment opportunities and the growth of the country are complementary to each other. It is also important to address the skilling, education and healthcare issues of the nation. It is also necessary to increase the participation of women in the labour force from the current low level of about 24%, so that the overall contribution of the workforce in the economy goes towards more value-addition, and higher growth and the country can take better advantage of the available manpower resources present in the country. 

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