It’s a great leap backward on the employment front in India’s rural areas
5 years, 11 months ago

It’s a great leap backward on the employment front in India’s rural areas

Live Mint  

Shiv Prasad has a plan—one that he feels can change his destiny. “The problem is that we, being part of the government, cannot acknowledge that demonetization seriously disrupted the flow of activity and massively contributed to employment-related problems.” A visit to a government-run industrial training institute in Banda, nestled inside a village named Motihari, is testimony to the utter lack of employability even among the better skilled. The ITI tasked to train rural youth in skills such as electrical, computing and machining is also part of a state-level skill development programme that is funded by the Union government’s Skill India initiative. In the absence of any hard data or estimates on migratory trends, that reality conforms to the stagnation in rural wages across India that grew at just 0.02% per year since May 2014, when the Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government took charge. it also means worsening inequality and rising impoverishment in rural areas,” says Himanshu, associate professor of economics at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, and a Mint columnist.

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History of this topic

Stagnant wages amid fast economic growth: We need an Indian Enlightenment
2 days, 15 hours ago

Stagnant wages amid fast economic growth: We need an Indian Enlightenment

Live Mint  

India’s economic growth story has been impressive. Wage stagnation amid rising inflation: The disparity between India’s economic growth and stagnant wages is stark. Chief economic advisor V. Anantha Nageswaran warns that low wages could stifle India’s long-term potential by weakening consumer demand and the quality of life for millions. This is not the template for a ‘Viksit Bharat.’ The paradox …

Average Indian can buy less than they could 10 years ago: Congress
2 months ago

Average Indian can buy less than they could 10 years ago: Congress

The Hindu  

The Congress on Sunday claimed that the average Indian can buy less today than they could ten years ago, saying that the cause for the slowdown in India’s consumption is the result of sustained income stagnation. Our statement on this unfortunate reality and its consequences for India's consumption story and long-term economic potential pic.twitter.com/qGEAbPSFbg — Jairam Ramesh November 10, 2024 …

India’s cities, expanding hubs of precarious employment
2 months, 1 week ago

India’s cities, expanding hubs of precarious employment

The Hindu  

Abhishek is just 25 years old. Precarious nature of work in urban India In recent decades, there have been fundamental shifts in India’s urban workforce and city development. Moreover, 92% of the 61 million jobs created after the economic liberalisation of 1991 were informal, indicating the precarious state of employment in India’s labour market. Structural imbalances favour organisations that control …

Upskilling India's Workforce: A Roadmap for the Future Economy
3 months ago

Upskilling India's Workforce: A Roadmap for the Future Economy

Hindustan Times  

The article highlights the need for India to invest in skill development and upskilling its workforce to address the challenges of a rapidly changing job market. The government's recent policy aims to enhance skill development for its youth through various initiatives, including the Skill India Mission and the launch of a new scheme focused on collaborative efforts between state and …

Present state of MNREGA is a living monument of Modi’s betrayal of rural India: Kharge
4 months, 3 weeks ago

Present state of MNREGA is a living monument of Modi’s betrayal of rural India: Kharge

The Hindu  

Marking the enactment day of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Congress president Mallikarjkun Kharge criticised the Centre for its handling of the flagship programme alleging that the present state of the scheme is “a living monument of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s betrayal” of rural India. The Economic Survey, Mr. Kharge said, has already laid the groundwork to justify …

Were eight crore new jobs created in three years?
4 months, 3 weeks ago

Were eight crore new jobs created in three years?

The Hindu  

Employment, or the lack of it, has been a major issue of debate among economists and policy makers in India in recent years. Tailing this claim, the research team of the State Bank of India published a validating report that claimed a match between the total number of workers in the India-KLEMS database and in the NSSO’s Annual Survey of …

In search of jobs: On the challenge of employment generation
5 months, 4 weeks ago

In search of jobs: On the challenge of employment generation

The Hindu  

Employment generation will remain a major challenge before the Narendra Modi government in its third term, and the upcoming Union Budget is expected to take note of it. The ILO’s India Employment Report had also warned that the share of manufacturing employment was stagnant, at around 12%-14% and the slow transition of jobs from agriculture to non agriculture reversed due …

RBI Data on Job Creation A Shot in the Arm for Modi Sarkar Ahead of Budget
6 months ago

RBI Data on Job Creation A Shot in the Arm for Modi Sarkar Ahead of Budget

News 18  

A recent RBI data saying India has added 2.5 times more jobs in the financial year 2023-24 — the highest since 1981-82 — has given the perfect ammunition to the government and the finance ministry to counter the perception being spread by the Opposition that governance is crippled and slowed down. In fact, the government — as well as the …

Rise in demand for MGNREGS a ‘living monument’ of govt. failure, says Jairam Ramesh
9 months, 1 week ago

Rise in demand for MGNREGS a ‘living monument’ of govt. failure, says Jairam Ramesh

The Hindu  

Reacting to the latest statistics of the flagship rural employment guarantee scheme showing that demand for work is more than the pre-pandemic level and on a steady rise, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said it is a “living monument” to the Narendra Modi government’s many failures. In a detailed statement here, Mr. Ramesh pointed out that the Mahatma Gandhi National …

Can India Ensure Living Wages at a Time When Workers Struggle for Minimum Wage?
9 months, 2 weeks ago

Can India Ensure Living Wages at a Time When Workers Struggle for Minimum Wage?

The Quint  

Recruitment happened through middlemen, the pay was based on piecework, and most workers preferred daily wages to avoid deductions for benefits from their already meagre income of Rs 300. Even though company hostels provided them with shelter, migrant workers were still classified as daily wage earners, receiving no benefits. Although these workers perform industrial work, qualifying them as organised sector …

Employment scenario in India grim, says ILO report
9 months, 2 weeks ago

Employment scenario in India grim, says ILO report

The Hindu  

India’s youth account for almost 83% of the unemployed workforce and the share of youngsters with secondary or higher education in the total unemployed youth has almost doubled from 35.2% in 2000 to 65.7% in 2022, as per the India Employment Report 2024 released by the International Labour Organisation and the Institute of Human Development here on Tuesday. Paradoxical improvements …

Labour and its discontents
1 year, 3 months ago

Labour and its discontents

Hindustan Times  

There is a widespread consensus that employment generation is India’s central economic challenge. At one level, it can be argued that failure to reduce the employment share of agriculture is India’s biggest labour market challenge. At another, it can also be argued that the quality of non-agricultural jobs, caste-based inequalities in labour markets and a big gender gap in employment …

Unemployment rate dips in India
1 year, 5 months ago

Unemployment rate dips in India

Deccan Chronicle  

New Delhi: India’s overall unemployment rate fell in July as rural areas saw increased demand for agriculture labour with the onset of monsoon rains. Rural unemployment rate fell to 7.89%, from 8.73% in June, while urban unemployment rate ticked up, to 8.06% from 7.87% in the same period. While the agriculture sector saw activity with improved rains, demand for labour …

The changing economy of rural West Bengal
1 year, 6 months ago

The changing economy of rural West Bengal

The Hindu  

As panchayat elections are nearing in West Bengal — voting is on July 8 — three streams of political discourse are becoming more and more apparent across different platforms. The crisis of income in agriculture For an analysis of change in class structures, the first characteristic of rural West Bengal that stands out is a gradual, secular process of households …

Year in Review | Indian economy amid global headwinds
2 years ago

Year in Review | Indian economy amid global headwinds

The Hindu  

Multiple headwinds at varied points of time impacted the Indian economy’s thorough economic revival in the calendar year 2022. “India’s growth rates in real terms of 9.7% in the first half of this year is well above the trend in other countries and is happening amid tightening global financial conditions and the commodity price shock since the Ukraine invasion by …

The rise of rural manufacturing
2 years, 1 month ago

The rise of rural manufacturing

The Hindu  

There is growing evidence to suggest that the most conspicuous trend in the manufacturing sector in India has been a shift of manufacturing activity and employment from bigger cities to smaller towns and rural areas. This study investigated the urbanisation of the Indian manufacturing sector by “combining enterprise data from formal and informal sectors and found that manufacturing plants in …

Joblessness below pre-COVID levels: Finance Ministry
2 years, 3 months ago

Joblessness below pre-COVID levels: Finance Ministry

The Hindu  

Demand for work under the national rural employment guarantee scheme hit a two-year low in August, signalling that the recovering economy is creating more jobs in rural as well as urban India, the Union Finance Ministry said on Saturday. India’s inflation, the Ministry said, is “in control” and expected to moderate in coming months from the 7% mark in August …

At 75, India seeks way forward in big but job-scarce economy
2 years, 5 months ago

At 75, India seeks way forward in big but job-scarce economy

Associated Press  

NEW DELHI — As India’s economy grew, the hum of factories turned the sleepy, dusty village of Manesar into a booming industrial hub, cranking out everything from cars and sinks to smartphones and tablets. If I live like this, how will my children live any better?” Entire families leave their homes in India’s vast rural hinterlands to camp at such …

At 6.80%, unemployment rate in India lowest in 6 months: Report
2 years, 5 months ago

At 6.80%, unemployment rate in India lowest in 6 months: Report

Hindustan Times  

The overall unemployment rate eased to 6.80% in July, a 1 per cent decline compared to June, the lowest since 6.56% in January, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, a private organisation reported on Monday. {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} In rural India, the unemployment rate fell to 6.14% in July against 8.03% in the previous month. The data for urban areas …

What forced PM Modi's jobs push now
2 years, 7 months ago

What forced PM Modi's jobs push now

India Today  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reviewed the status of human resources in all central government ministries and departments and ordered the recruitment of 10 lakh people in a mission mode in the next 18 months,” the PM's Office said in a tweet on Tuesday. — PMO India June 14, 2022 Tuesday’s tweet from the PMO follows protests by frustrated job …

The era of an unemployed India
2 years, 9 months ago

The era of an unemployed India

The Hindu  

Reports on and the visuals of the recent agitations by railway job applicants reveal a widespread problem of massive job insecurity among India’s youth. One such index is the downward pressure unleashed by the influx of overqualified youth aspiring for middle and lower rung government jobs, which, despite their modest pay, are highly coveted given the greater job security ascribed …

Rahul Gandhi's two India attack on Modi govt on jobs & wealth, says rich-poor divide increasing
2 years, 11 months ago

Rahul Gandhi's two India attack on Modi govt on jobs & wealth, says rich-poor divide increasing

India Today  

There are two Indias - one for the ultra rich and one for the rest, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in Lok Sabha on Wednesday. "Another India is for poor people and the divide between two Indias is widening," Rahul Gandhi said. The one they had has disappeared," Rahul Gandhi said, adding that in 2021, 3 crore youth lost their …

A hazy picture on employment in India
2 years, 11 months ago

A hazy picture on employment in India

The Hindu  

The two important indicators of structural transformation in any economy are rates of growth and changes in the structural composition of output and the workforce. Also, the unemployment rate in the female labour force in rural areas is far lower than the male labour force, whereas the opposite holds true in urban areas. This is despite the fact that the …

Data | Jobs increase in rural India in September
3 years, 3 months ago

Data | Jobs increase in rural India in September

The Hindu  

In India, 8.5 million new jobs were gained in September 2021, increasing the total employment to 406.2 mn from 397.8 mn in August, according to CMIE’s Consumer Pyramids Household Survey. There was a significant improvement in the quality of employment as salaried jobs increased in both rural and urban regions. Click to remove AMP mode High rural share As many …

Aakar Patel | Poverty on the rise, jobs begin to vanish: Will India explode?
3 years, 3 months ago

Aakar Patel | Poverty on the rise, jobs begin to vanish: Will India explode?

Deccan Chronicle  

A few months after taking office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in the Lok Sabha that MNREGA would be continued only because it would show how poorly the Manmohan Singh government had performed. MNREGA guarantees 100 days of employment in the year at Rs 200 per day to each registered household, meaning that the family would receive Rs 20,000 for …

‘Farm to Factory’: Employment for Marginal Farmers, Farm Labourers Need of the Hour in Rural India
4 years ago

‘Farm to Factory’: Employment for Marginal Farmers, Farm Labourers Need of the Hour in Rural India

News 18  

In farming, size matters. Farming is a seasonal affair, not a full-time job so the second job option mostly required by the small, marginal farmers and farm labourers in their nearby areas that’s why new industrial investment should be attracted in rural and backward areas by offering special incentives. Special incentives are being offered to develop industrial corridors and clusters …

A path for the Indian economy to find its way out of the woods
4 years ago

A path for the Indian economy to find its way out of the woods

Live Mint  

As much we would like to forget 2020, it is unlikely we will anytime soon. The rural economy accounts for almost half of India’s GDP and has done better than its urban counterpart, as reflected in the better performance of sectors with a rural footprint, such as tractors, two-wheelers, fertilizers and agrochemicals. Second, government support is tilted towards the rural …

Rural unemployment at four-month low on good rains, NREGA
4 years, 6 months ago

Rural unemployment at four-month low on good rains, NREGA

Live Mint  

Amid plentiful rains, increased sowing and the return of workers to cities, unemployment in India’s countryside fell to a four-month low in the week ended 12 July, while continuing curbs limited the improvement in towns and cities. According to latest data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, the rural joblessness rate slowed to 6.34% from the previous week’s 7.78%. …

Why cash can save the rural jobs scheme
4 years, 7 months ago

Why cash can save the rural jobs scheme

Live Mint  

If we get work in the village, why would we go elsewhere? We can’t survive like that.” With millions of workers returning to rural India, the government has naturally committed to a major boost in the outlay for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act this year. For a while, they couldn’t get work until they opened accounts; delays in wage …

A road map to strengthen India’s rural economy | Analysis
4 years, 7 months ago

A road map to strengthen India’s rural economy | Analysis

Hindustan Times  

The coronavirus disease -induced pandemic has thrown up several socioeconomic challenges for India, the most critical being how to revive the economy. Come up with a plan to encourage a cluster of the cottage, small and medium enterprises in villages, mofussil towns India has an estimated 497 million workers, of which about 94% work in the unorganised sector. There is …

A mindset problem: The Hindu Editorial on rural jobs scheme fund crunch
4 years, 11 months ago

A mindset problem: The Hindu Editorial on rural jobs scheme fund crunch

The Hindu  

It needs no reiteration that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has acted as insurance for landless labourers during crop failures, agrarian crises and periods of a stressed economy. With the ongoing economic slowdown resulting in depressed rural wages and the lack of adequate opportunity to work, the MGNREGS has provided much needed succour and this explains why …

Banking sector in India under 'stress', govt not in a position to bail it out, says Abhijit Banerjee
4 years, 11 months ago

Banking sector in India under 'stress', govt not in a position to bail it out, says Abhijit Banerjee

Firstpost  

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the 13th Jaipur Literature Festival, Abhijit Banerjee said the demand slowdown in the automobile sector also shows that people are lacking confidence in the economy Jaipur: Nobel laureate and economist Abhijit Banerjee on Sunday said the banking sector in the country was “stressed” and that the government was in no position to …

A rural stimulus: On MGNREGA wage hike
5 years, 3 months ago

A rural stimulus: On MGNREGA wage hike

The Hindu  

The government’s statistical machinery has begun work on revising the indices that capture the trends in consumer prices experienced in rural India. But two-thirds of the dated inflation index is still driven by food prices, which may effectively end up understating the price pressures facing rural households. This depressant effect could be accentuated when low food inflation coincides with decelerating …

History’s curse on MGNREGA
5 years, 4 months ago

History’s curse on MGNREGA

Live Mint  

When it was launched in 2006, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was envisaged to boost rural economies by providing the rural poor with 100 days of guaranteed public employment and raising rural wages. The study, authored by Kartik Misra of the University of Massachusetts, shows far from addressing regional inequalities, MGNREGA’s effects have fallen victim to historical …

When Rural Jobs Disappear, Women Are The First To Lose Out
5 years, 8 months ago

When Rural Jobs Disappear, Women Are The First To Lose Out

The Quint  

“Before you would see groups of waiting workers divided by skill, language and of course gender too; but now in the past two years and especially post-demonetisation a new division has emerged amongst the women,” she said. Operating with the upper hand as demand for jobs has decreased, employers have been asserting their bargaining power to divide the women on …

50 lakh people lost job opportunities after demonetisation, says study
5 years, 8 months ago

50 lakh people lost job opportunities after demonetisation, says study

The Hindu  

Since the November 8, 2016 demonetisation, at least five million people lost opportunities to work across the country, while the overall unemployment rate doubled between 2011 and 2018 to 6%, says a 'State of Working India' report published by the Centre for Sustainable Employment of the Azim Premji University that was released on Tuesday. On the demand side, there has …

Travels through the Hindi belt: For farm workers in Bihar's Darbhanga, seasonal migration to Punjab only hope of livelihood
5 years, 9 months ago

Travels through the Hindi belt: For farm workers in Bihar's Darbhanga, seasonal migration to Punjab only hope of livelihood

Firstpost  

Thousands of villagers from Bihar’s Darbhanga district migrate around March-end to work as labourers in Punjab’s wheat fields, where they toil away for over a month. “We make around Rs 8,000-10,000 a month,” says Ramchandra Sahni, 40, a resident of Pokhram village, in Biraul tehsil – about 50 kilometres from Darbhanga town. Work opportunities here are rare.” According to the …

Indian techies struggle as jobs crisis worsens: Votes of jobless youths can hurt Narendra Modi's chances in LS polls, say critics
5 years, 10 months ago

Indian techies struggle as jobs crisis worsens: Votes of jobless youths can hurt Narendra Modi's chances in LS polls, say critics

Firstpost  

These engineers struggling to find jobs highlight Narendra Modi’s difficulty in creating jobs by boosting manufacturing under ‘Make in India’ as promised in 2014. Chinchwad: Santosh Gurav gained a bachelor’s degree in technology from a mid-tier college in western India last year, specialising in electrical engineering and hoping to land a job in industrial automation. “Many can’t even write basic …

Land, labour, financial sector reforms needed to improve manufacturing, boost economic growth, says Chief Economic Adviser
5 years, 10 months ago

Land, labour, financial sector reforms needed to improve manufacturing, boost economic growth, says Chief Economic Adviser

Firstpost  

The share of manufacturing in the economy has grown just 1.5 percentage points in the last three years to 18 percent, and good exports have shown little sign of a pick up in the last five years. New Delhi: The next government will have to bring in land, labor and financial sector reforms to improve the productivity of the manufacturing …

India needs land, labour reform to aid manufacturing: Krishnamurthy Subramanian
5 years, 10 months ago

India needs land, labour reform to aid manufacturing: Krishnamurthy Subramanian

Live Mint  

New Delhi: India's next government will have to bring in land, labour and financial sector reforms to improve the productivity of the manufacturing sector and boost economic growth, India's chief economic adviser said. Several business leaders said a delay in land acquisition for private factories, decades-old restrictive labour laws and higher borrowing costs discourage many investors who therefore prefer to …

How Nehru led to agrarian distress and what could be the way forward for inclusive growth
5 years, 11 months ago

How Nehru led to agrarian distress and what could be the way forward for inclusive growth

Op India  

Historical backdrop and policy impact: In 1947 when Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru took over reins of Independent India, deeply influenced by Marxist-Leninist socialism, he strived to achieve India’s prosperity by creating mammoth public sector enterprises that were engaged in manufacturing steel to running forcibly nationalised airlines. Moreover, other priority areas like primary education, health provisioning, family welfare, and even rural …

NSSO data confirms India's jobs crisis: Unemployment at 45-year high of 6.1%, way out is to make economy grow
5 years, 11 months ago

NSSO data confirms India's jobs crisis: Unemployment at 45-year high of 6.1%, way out is to make economy grow

Firstpost  

The problem of unemployment is very serious and the only way to go ahead is to make the economy grow which happens gradually over time. The Business Standard report has focused on the unemployment rates among men and women youth in both urban and rural areas, which does require an explanation as it is quite deep-rooted and scary. The report …

A Rural Manifesto: Far removed from electoral fire and fury, Varun Gandhi pens book on agrarian policies
6 years, 1 month ago

A Rural Manifesto: Far removed from electoral fire and fury, Varun Gandhi pens book on agrarian policies

Firstpost  

‘Parliament is not a congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests, which interest each must maintain, as an agent and advocate, against other agents and advocates; but parliament is a deliberative assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole; where, not local purposes, not local prejudices ought to guide, but the general good, resulting from the …

The geography of employment in 21st century India
6 years, 1 month ago

The geography of employment in 21st century India

Live Mint  

New Delhi: Where do Indians find regular jobs easily? A Mint analysis of the disaggregated census jobs data released earlier this year shows a striking divergence in the availability of regular non-farm jobs across the country. Districts with a relatively high share of regular jobs were clustered in the extreme south, and in a narrow strip extending along the western …

The enormity of job challenge that India faces
6 years, 2 months ago

The enormity of job challenge that India faces

Live Mint  

While there is no clarity on the extent of jobs created in the economy since 2011-12, there is no disagreement that the economy has failed to create enough jobs. The unrest among farmers driven by declining incomes is also a manifestation of the problem of employment in a country with almost half of the total workforce working in agriculture. The …

Why reports of agriculture’s demise are greatly exaggerated
6 years, 4 months ago

Why reports of agriculture’s demise are greatly exaggerated

Live Mint  

Bengaluru/New Delhi: Farmers may be looking for alternative avenues of income, but it is too soon to write off the significance of agriculture in rural India, data from the recently released Nabard All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey shows. An initial reading of the survey findings seems to suggest that earnings from farm-related activities—cultivation and livestock rearing—contributed just 43% to …

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