What is seasonal unemployment? Suggest measures for reducing this kind of unemployment in India.
It refers to a situation where a number of persons are not able to find a job in a particular season. It occurs in the case of agriculture, ice-cream factories, woollen factories, etc
Following measures may be suggested to reduce seasonal unemployment
(i) Promotion of multiple cropping, i.e., raising more than one crop on the same piece of land in a year.
(ii) Development of activities allied to agriculture such as animal husbandry, dairy fanning, horticulture, etc to provide extra employment throughout the year.
(iii) Public investment in rural areas in such fields as irrigation, drainage, flood control, land and environment, improvement of rural roads, schools, hospitals, etc.
(iv) Promotion of on-farm investment. Overhaul of machinery, training of farm labour and programmes for the eradication of illiteracy during slack seasons.
(v) Mechanisation of peak season activities so that a proportion of the labour force is permanently shifted from agriculture to non-seasonal activities and surplus labour in the slack season is reduced.
(vi) Establishment of a variety of industries which operate at different times of the year so that labour may be kept employed almost throughout the year by shifting from one seasonal industry to another.