In search of jobs: On the challenge of employment generation
Technology must be harnessed for easing burden and for efficiency
While the government cannot magically change the situation, it can initiate thoughts about solutions. The Swadeshi Jagran Manch has demanded that the Centre impose a robot tax and incentivise job creation in the Budget. The trade unions have asked the Centre to convene the long-pending Indian Labour Conference. Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya’s decision to reach out to trade unions is a positive development, but he must have stronger prescriptions than the Labour Codes to stop job losses and generate more jobs. Technological innovations should be to reduce the workload of people, and not to create hurdles for their livelihood. To industrialise agriculture production, the government should consider more public and cooperative investment to create more jobs and ease the load on farmers. It has to bring on board the private and public sectors, labour unions, States and political parties to design a growth model with job creation at its centre. Recent global experiences suggest that economic growth without employment growth can cause social and political upheavals. This is not a problem that can be explained away, and an honest account of the problem will be a good starting point for mitigative measures.
