The finance ministry has sought of all ministries and departments to submit comprehensive reports about posts that have been lying vacant for more than five years. The government intends to abolish all such posts, which is not something new and is part of the efforts of successive governments to shed weight from the bureaucracy. Many departments have even claimed that the way the government has gone about shedding weight is from the lower rungs, keeping it top-heavy. In any case, the move if carried out with the right intent and purpose would be most beneficial. But the response that the government has received from some departments and ministries has not been encouraging. Some departments and ministries are said to have baulked at going along with the directive and provided the information in a piecemeal manner. But that would only be putting off the inevitable. Preliminary estimates have shown that several thousand central government posts have been lying vacant for five or more years. They will have to be abolished for the government to make better use of resources. However, at a time when the country is grappling with the issue of growing unemployment, the question is whether the government will stop at abolishing posts. What will happen to the generation of jobs. While the government cannot be expected to generate all the new jobs in the market, it definitely needs new departments and maybe ministries to carry out its work properly. Instead of abolishing the posts altogether, some of these could be repurposed or redesignated in other departments where there is a genuine need. The government can no longer hide behind fig leaves such as the recent remark of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a televised interview that 70 lakh Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) accounts had been opened for persons in the age group 18–25 years, with no reference to the period in which it has happened. Also, the data at best represents formalisation of jobs and not generation of employment. Demonetisation and GST have affected the lower strata of society where unemployment is rife more than others. Along with unemployment is the bigger evil of under-employment. And going by reports such as that of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), there is little hope for these segments. An ILO report has stated that more than 77 per cent of the active workforce, that is contractual workers in the organised sector and workers in the unorganised sector, will come under vulnerable employment by 2019. Labour bureau statistics for the year have also shown a reduction in the number of jobs from 480 million in 2014 to 467 million in 2016. The generation of jobs cannot be done merely by laying out statistics. It will take suitable conditions to arise throughout the wide array of interventions right from those in labour laws and repurposing of posts to prepare the ground for generation of jobs. Although some welcome measures are already being taken to ensure ease of engagement of persons in jobs, much more needs to be done in this direction to enable the country to produce more jobs in multiple sectors. Laws will have to be framed in such a way that they can accommodate multiple needs and cases so that they make it easier for entrepreneurs to hire its workforce according to its needs. Such a situation will create more jobs and would ensure that if a person loses a job at one place, s/he will be absorbed elsewhere in a similar role. Unless such ‘liquidity’ in jobs is ensured, there is no point in abolishing posts or laying out numbers that appear to indicate generation of employment.
A point to note is that Government of India, in its recently tabled Economic Survey 2018, admits that both Demonetisation and GST had ill effects on the economy and the nation has finally surmounted those difficulties. In reality, however, those actions have crippled the Indian economy, the damaging aspects of which shall be felt for a long time to come. In a vast nation with millions of unskilled and semi skilled workers, a forced and abrupt formalisation could only compel entrepreneurs to shrink or shut down enterprises. Unfortunately, the country has no means to measure such a colossal and tangible damage dumped on its economy purely for political gains. In virtually no other country do politicians meddle and destroy the currency. Unemployment created just due to that one single decision needs to be accounted for, if we are to believe the recent Economic Survey that claims the nation has overcome the hardships.
Quiet Realignment
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