18.

6 million without jobs in India this

year, unemployment rate to stand at 3.5
per cent in 2019
According to its latest report by ILO, India has an estimated 18.6 million jobless in
the country this year which will increase to 18.9 million in 2019
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India Today Web Desk

New Delhi
November 9, 2018
UPDATED: November 9, 2018 13:34 IST

Unemployment in India
Many would argue that the core objective behind education is to gainful employability. They are
not far from the truth. Indeed, many organizations that evaluate the return on investment in
education do so on the basis of the employability quotient.
The data with regard to India is, unfortunately, quite alarming. According to the International
Labour Organisation (ILO), India will again see its unemployment rate at 3.5 per cent in
2018 and 2019, the same which was seen in 2017 and 2016.
According to the latest data, there will be 18.9 million jobless people in India next year a little
more than 18.6 million for 2018.

Reasons for unemployment yukta and

Chandan
Quality institutions are less in India
The reason behind this is that India has a small number of quality institutions in the country in
spite of the growth in the number of higher education providers.
Consequently, getting admission in the prime institutions is an uphill task as they would,
naturally, like to maintain a student-faculty ratio that does not impact quality adversely. A large
number of self-financed private institutions have mushroomed to cater to the burgeoning demand
and lack infrastructure and qualified faculty.
Lacking aptitude and skills
This impacts pedagogy and the quality of students are literally churned out. As a net result, most
of the students are not employable. They lack the aptitude and skills which the employers,
particularly in the corporate sector, are looking for.
They become a drain on the economy and India’s, much-touted demographic dividend faces the
dire prospect of becoming a demographic drawback.
The big challenge the government faces is how education may be rewired to focus on
imparting knowledge that responds to market demand. In Toffler’s words, how can education
make students future-ready. Unless it does this, education and employability cannot be correlated.
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It would fail to transform lives and create a just and equitable society. Governance, consequently,
would have failed.
Creating jobs to match up to the employment rate
It is worth recalling that a recent report by the World Bank (WB) red-flagged India asks to create
at least 8.1 million jobs a year to match up to the employment rate of the country. This is a
monumental asking, especially because over the past seven decades, education has never truly
been a national priority.
Gainful employment is among the grand challenges that India faces. It is critical for India to
develop workable paradigms that addresses the knowledge revolution and the challenges the
future workforce that would need to address.
Fundamental shift in mindset is a dire need
Change the mindset
Jugaad is not a response that would help transform India into the regional and possibly,
global power that it aspires to become. This requires a fundamental shift in mindset.
At a fundamental level, it requires changing the very DNA of our educational institutions. The
focus has to be on pedagogy and on infrastructure. This requires creating space and, indeed, a
culture that embraces innovation and research. This is not easy and would be time-consuming.
While the government has initiated discussion on how this might be achieved, in the interim, it is
critical that we do not reinvent the wheel and that we draw on experience and expertise that
already exist. In a rapidly globalizing ambience, this is a distinct advantage. It is also an
inescapable reality.
Indian students opting for international institutions
Aspiring Indian students with talent and ability are likely to opt for international institutions that
cater to their demand. I refer to this as the push factor’; they would be pushed to pursue higher
education abroad, simply because India is unable to credibly resolve the demand-supply
conundrum in the foreseeable future.
Furthermore, international education exposes them to global culture and new ways of seeing that
Indian education has not even experimented with so far!
Data demonstrates the growing acceptance of Australia as a preferred higher education
destination. There are good reasons for this. At least five of the 33 universities in Australia are in
the top 50 of the QS rankings. This was a lesser known fact in India mainly because Indian
students were blind-sighted into believing that the US and the UK were the places to go to. Not
anymore!
University of New South Wales, one of the top performing universities
for graduate employability
A university like The University of New South Wales (UNSW), for instance, is not only
internationally ranked but has a global alumni network of close to 300,000 graduates in 146
countries! This opens up an entirely new world of opportunities.
UNSW has, furthermore, been voted one of the top performing universities for
graduate employability with some of the biggest global employers, such as, Google, Penguin,
Ernst & Young, Microsoft, Rio Tinto, HSBC, Slater & Gordon, NASA, UNESCO, and Oxfam.

The numbers show that Make-in-India project, which aims to lift the share
of domestic manufacturing from 17 percent of gross domestic product
(GDP) to about 25 percent and create jobs for an estimated 1.2 million
youth entering the market, has failed to take off.
The report also provides the first numbers since Modi's decision in
November 2016 to withdraw most of the country's banknotes from circulation
overnight.

The survey comes a month after the All India Manufacturers’ Organisation
released a report that said 3.5 million jobs had been lost since 2016.

the job losses were mainly due to demonetisation and rising working costs
after the launch of a national sales tax in July 2017, which led to hundreds
of thousands losing jobs in small businesses.

Suggestions to Solve
Unemployment Problem shivam
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Following are the suggestions to solve unemployment

problem:
(i) Change in industrial technique:
Production technique should suit the needs and means of the
country. It is essential that labour intensive technology should be
encouraged in place of capital intensive technology.

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(ii) Policy regarding seasonal unemployment:

Seasonal unemployment is found in agriculture sector and agro
based industries.

To remove it:
(a) Agriculture should have multiple cropping,

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(b) Plantations, horticulture, dairying and animal husbandry should

be encouraged,

(c) Cottage industries should be encouraged.

(iii) Change in education system:

Educational pattern should be completely changed. Students who
have liking for higher studies should be admitted in colleges and
universities. Emphasis should be given on vocational education.
Qualified engineers should start their own small units.

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(iv) Expansion of Employment exchanges:

More employment exchanges should be opened. Information
regarding employment opportunities should be given to people.
(v) More assistance to self employed people:
Most people in India are self employed. They are engaged in
agriculture, trade, cottage and small scale industries etc. These
persons should be helped financially, providing raw materials and
technical training.

(vi) Full and more productive employment:

The main objective of county’s employment policy should be to
increase employment opportunities and productivity of labour.
Govt. should adopt a policy that provides employment to all people.

(vii) Increase in Production:
To increase employment, it is essential to increase production in
agriculture and industrial sectors. Development of small and
cottage industries should be encouraged.

(viii) More importance to employment programmes:

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In five year plans more importance should be given to employment.

The programmes like irrigation, roads, flood control, power,
agriculture, rural electrification can provide better employment to
people.

(ix) High rate of capital formation:

Rate of capital formation in the country should be accelerated.
Capital formation should be particularly encouraged in such
activities which generate greater employment opportunities. Capital
output ratio should be kept low.

(x) Industries in co-operative sector:

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Industries in co-operative sector should be encouraged. Kerala

Govt.’ set up a textile mill covering 600 unemployed persons on co-
operative basis. This is a novel approach to fight against
unemployment. Different State Govt. should take necessary steps in
this direction.

(xi) Decentralisation of industrial activity:

Decentralisation of Industrial activity is necessary to reduce
unemployment. If industrial activities are centralised at one place,
there will be less employment opportunities in the under developed
areas. So Govt. should adopt such policies which encourage
decentralisation of industrial activity.

(xii) Population control:
SCHEMES AND SCAMS NULU

The growth of population should be checked in order to solve

unemployment, problem. Family planning programme should be
implemented widely and effectively.

The central government has countered its own information revealed

through an application filed under the Right to Information Act (RTI)
which says only 89,627 jobs have been given under the Deen Dayal
Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) launched by the
rural development ministry in 2014.

The RTI application was filed by activist Vivek Velankar, founder of a

city-based NGO Sajak Nagarik Manch, on May 14 seeking details of jobs
created under the ambitious employment scheme of the central
government.

While the information given as the response to the RTI application has
claimed only 89, 627 jobs were given, the central government officials
have refuted the information claiming it “wrong”.

Alka Upadhyaya, joint secretary, ministry of rural development said, “The

information given by the RTI is wrong and incomplete. The DDU-GKY
scheme of the government of India is one of the best performing schemes
of the rural development ministry. So far, 5.67 lakh have been trained in
different skill development centres from across the country. Out of this,
over 3 lakh 48 thousand have got jobs after the completion of the
training.”

According to Velankar, the rural development ministry had no information

on the query raised through the RTI. Ergo, the ministry then forwarded the
RTI application to National bank for agriculture and rural development
(Nabard) which handed over the information to the activist.

According to the information released by Nabard, under the particular

scheme, so far, only 89,627 jobs have been provided by the union
government.

Upadhyaya said, “I am not in possession of the exact knowledge given by

Nabard under the RTI. However, the information provided through the
RTI application was wrong.”

According to Upadhyaya, the details provided by the Nabard might be

restricted to only the centres under the jurisdiction of Nabard and not the
overall centres in the country.

Responding to the claims by the government officials, Velankar said, “It is

a serious concern that the central government cannot provide the correct
information in response to the RTI. It is surprising that the RTI is being
transferred internally owing to lack of information.”

Perhaps, the government has failed to monitor one of its own schemes,
said Velankar.

The ambitious scheme

According to the information given by the central government:

Number of candidates trained so far in the country: 5 lakh 67 thousand

Number of candidates who have got the jobs: over 3 lakh 48 thousand

Information given in response to the RTI:

-Yearwise breakup of jobs created:
2014-15: 7,416

2015-16: 29,908

2016-17: 30,947

2017-18: 21,356