- There are also people who are not employed at all. In what ways can one increase employment for people?
- Let us look at some of them. Take the case of Laxmi with her two-hectare plot of un-irrigated land. The government can spend some money or banks can provide a loan, to construct a well for her family to irrigate the land. Laxmi will then be able to irrigate her land and take a second crop, wheat, during the rabi season. Let us suppose that one hectare of wheat can provide employment to two people for 50 days (including sowing, watering, fertiliser application and harvesting). So, two more members of the family can be employed in her own field. Now suppose a new dam is constructed and canals are dug to irrigate many such farms. This could lead to a lot of employment generation within the agricultural sector itself reducing the problem of underemployment.
- Now, suppose Laxmi and other farmers produce much more than before. They would also need to sell some of this. For this they may be required to transport their products to a nearby town.
- If the government invests some money in transportation and storage of crops, or makes better rural roads so that mini-trucks reach everywhere several farmers like Laxmi, who now have access to water, can continue to grow and sell these crops.
- This activity can provide productive employment to not just farmers but also others such as those in services like transport or trade. Laxmi’s need is not confined to water alone. To cultivate the land, she also needs seeds, fertilisers, agricultural equipments and pumpsets to draw water. Being a poor farmer, she cannot afford many of these. So she will have to borrow money from moneylenders and pay a high rate of interest. If the local bank gives her credit at a reasonable rate of interest, she will be able to buy all these in time and cultivate her land.
- This means that along with water, we also need to provide cheap agricultural credit to the farmers for farming to improve.
- Another way by which we can tackle this problem is to identify, promote and locate industries and services in semi-rural areas where a large number of people may be employed. For instance, suppose many farmers decide to grow arhar and chickpea (pulse crops). Setting up a dal mill to procure and process these and sell in the cities is one such example.
- Opening a cold storage could give an opportunity for farmers to store their products like potatoes and onions and sell them when the price is good.
- In villages near forest areas, we can start honey collection centres where farmers can come and sell wild honey. It is also possible to set up industries that process vegetables and agricultural produce like potato, sweet potato, rice, wheat, tomato, fruits, which can be sold in outside markets. This will provide employment in industries located in semi-rural areas and not necessarily in large urban centres.
- Do you know that in India there are about 200 million children in the school-going age group? Out of this, only about two-thirds are attending schools. The rest are not— they may be at home or many of them may be working as child labourers. If these children are to attend schools, we will require more buildings, more teachers and other staff.
- A study conducted by the Planning Commission estimates that nearly 20 lakh jobs can be created in the education sector alone.
- Similarly, if we are to improve the health situation, we need many more doctors, nurses, health workers etc. to work in rural areas. These are some ways by which jobs would be created and we would also be able to address the important aspects of development
- Every state or region has potential for increasing the income and employment for people in that area. It could be tourism, or regional craft industry, or new services like IT. Some of these would require proper planning and support from the government. For example, the same study by the Planning Commission says that if tourism as a sector is improved, every year we can give additional employment to more than 35 lakh people.
- We must realise that some of the suggestions discussed above would take a long time to implement. For the short-term, we need some quick measures.
- Recognising this, the central government in India recently made a law implementing the Right to Work in 200 districts of India. It is called National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (NREGA 2005). Under NREGA 2005, all those who are able to, and are in need of, work have been guaranteed 100 days of employment in a year by the government. If the government fails in its duty to provide employment, it will give unemployment allowances to the people. The types of work that would in future help to increase the production from land will be given preference under the Act.