Guarantees made attractive cannot last long unless they are performed by the Guarantor. At present PM Modi expressly announces as ‘Guarantee’ to the people of the country in the course of the Lok Sabha election that is scheduled to start with its first phase on 19th April. The stress on ‘Guarantees’ has been ascending in every meeting PM Modi addresses. After having ruled the country for 10 years the PM is in a position to announce new guarantees. It is quite natural for everyone to recall whether he/she had experienced the outcome of the earlier promises made in 2014 and 2019 elections.
One such promise was providing jobs to 2 crore people every year. Now PM Modi has to scale the mandate of people in relation to the success stories of earlier promises. In fact Modi must recall the promise of 20 crore jobs for the youth of the country in the span of ten years. No tangible response from Modi on this promise. It is not mere inadherence to the guarantee; most of the job vacancies, arisen out of retirement of employees have also been kept vacant. The accumulated vacancies are alarming.One of them is Railways. The reason attributed to train accidents was inadequate employees to manage the affairs. The unauthorised agenda says that the upkeeping of vacancies as such is to facilitate ‘Railways’ for privatisation, since its associates had already been privatised.
Recently ‘India Employment Report 2024’ has been released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Institute of Human Development (IHD).
The following findings have been made that are distressing:
* The proportion of India’s working – age population (aged 15-59) increased from 61 per cent in 2011 to 64 per cent in 2021.
* About 70 – 80 lakh young people are added each year to the labour force.
* Though the proportion of youth getting educated increased from 18 per cent in 2000 to 35 per cent in 2022, the percentage of youth involved in economic activities decreased from 52 per cent to 37 per cent.
* In 2022, the share of unemployed youth in the total unemployed population was 82.9 per cent.
* The unemployment rate among youth has tripled between 2012 and 2018.
The report summarises that it is a question of both lack of opportunities and unemployability of educated youth due to poor quality of education.
Trade unions contend that thousands of posts have not been filled for years and the policy of letting one-third of the vacancies lapse after retirements have resulted in the decrease of formal employment. The trend of contractual appointments and clamour for consultancies are also blamed for the dip in formal jobs. This sort of trend has led to a stage wherein most of the work force is out of any social security net.
What has been done by Modi led BJP government during the last 10 years to overcome the already existing trend? The only scheme that was introduced by the Modi regime is Agni path, a scheme that curtailed the scope of already existing defence service period. The future of discharged service personnel under Agni path will be bleak.
The employment of youth does not confine to the livelihood of the concerned but would be a contributory factor for the economic development and progress of the country.
Paying no attention to this vital issue is tolerable only to some extent. But the response to the findings of the Report, submitted by the Chief Economic Advisor of Government of India is highly ridiculous.
“Diagnosis is easier than the solution when it concerns issues like unemployment. What can the government do on the employment front if there is shortfall in hiring….? In the normal world it is the commercial sector that needs to do the hiring. Government cannot solve all social, economic problems such as – unemployment.”
What a frank expression of the inability to manage the vital problem of unemployment! Besides, the funny thing is the redepiction of the character in one of the Tamil feature films. The fictional country’s Prime Minister seeks to address the problem thus:
“Look, all I will do is to keep talking on every stage that we have to solve the unemployment problem, and that is my contribution to solving the unemployment problem. Because this is not something I can address.”
What exactly does the Chief Economic Advisor of Modi’s government want to convey on the issue?
One thing is clear, the PM Modi is consistent in making utterances with just one change in it. In 2014 & 2919 it was ‘promise’, at present it is ‘guarantee’. No change in the fulfilment of utterances on employment to the youth of country. The trend has to change with due change in the rulers of the country.
