2024-07-13 06:43:00
New Delhi: About 65% of the people in the country are below 35 years of age. This large number of youth in the population will start decreasing by the year 2040. Experts say that if India has to be made a developed country by the year 2047 as per the goal of PM Narendra Modi, then it is necessary to teach new age skills to the youth and create a large number of employment opportunities for them and in this regard, the first general budget of the NDA 3.0 government can create a new path.
Citigroup had said in a recent report that in the next decade, India will have to create around 12 million employment opportunities every year for the new entrants into the labor market, but even if the GDP growth continues at 7%, India can still create only 80-90 lakh jobs every year. Rejecting this report, the Labor Ministry had said that more than 8 crore employment opportunities would be created between 2017-18 and 2021-22. RBI said in provisional data that 4.67 crore employment opportunities were created in the financial year 2024.
There is no problem on the job creation front, but…
Suchita Dutta, Executive Director of Indian Staffing Federation (ISF), said, ‘There is no problem on the job creation front, but the problem of not having the skills as per the job requirement is a big one. Skill upgradation should be the focus of the budget. Another challenge is that there are more job opportunities in the South, but skilled people are more in East and West India. The staffing industry has to spend a lot in teaching skills to migrant workers and making them capable of working. If financial help is received from the government, both the industry and the workers will benefit.’
At the same time, Dr. VG Kalantri, President of All India Association of Industries, said, ‘MSME creates the most job opportunities. If steps are taken in the budget to provide funds to MSME on easy terms and increase their growth, then it will also help in increasing employment.’
Employment decreased in the unorganized sector
According to the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Enterprises for FY 2022 and 2023 released by the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation, the number of people working in the unorganized sector declined by 16.45 lakh to 10.96 crore between 2015-16 and 2022-23.
Describing the decline in employment in the unorganized sector as ‘harmful for the country’, Labornet CEO Dr Gayatri Vasudevan said, ‘There is a need to promote such employment in many sectors including healthcare, construction and infrastructure, which are not threatened by automation. This is necessary for a country like India. People should be helped to start their own small enterprises through schemes related to the MSME segment. It is difficult to provide employment to all people in the organized sector. It would be better if people are taught skills to start their own business. More and more ITI’s should be opened and upgraded. Under the National Education Policy, there should be a provision of tax exemption for parents in the expenses incurred on learning skills.’
At the same time, Suchita Dutta of ISF said, ‘The government should focus on promoting the formal sector because it is difficult to provide social security in the informal sector. This will put pressure on the government in the coming years. If there is a provision of incentives in the budget to bring women into the workforce, then it will be a good step.’