Census figures based on 2011 survey released the other day, after a long delay in processing, show those in the bracket of ‘full-time employed’ has seen a remarkable dip across all religious communities as compared to the previous 2001 Census figures. This, prima facie, should have to do with the weakening of India’s manufacturing sector — that is showing a progressive decline for the past quarter of a century.
The advent of globalisation and lack of remedial domestic measures appear to have hit India badly. So much so, manufacturing in India’s GDP has dropped by four per cent since 1990, raising the spectre of a de-industrialisation — thanks largely to the flooding of the market by cheap Chinese goods. The hit that the manufacturing sector is taking has further aggravated in the past five years, making the scenario in relation to job creations further worse.
In normal course, this should have created social upheavals. However, to some extent the growth of the services sector — like vehicle servicing, mobile phones (and other) shops, banking type ponzi activities — may be shams or scams yet seems to have partly offset the resultant social problems. The bigger credit must be given to the timid attitude of citizens which has helped save India from any major violent internal strife, the kind one sees in African and South American societies. It is therefore imperative that we now stop the theft of our jobs by the Chinese.
The Census Report shows that the number of people seeking jobs — and not getting work — has risen in the 10-year period 2001-2011 from 11 per cent to 15 per cent of the population. Some 42 per cent of the citizenry are non-workers; the bulk of them being women, both rural and urban, sitting back at home and taking care of domestic chores. A slightly larger segment of the population, namely 44 per cent, is formed of full-time workers, classified as ‘Main Workers’, while some 14 per cent are ‘Marginal Workers’. The Modi government’s ‘Make In India’ programme is bogged down due to lack of funds, policy paralysis and several other hurdles, and two years past the formation of the NDA government, there is little of momentum in this respect.
Noticeable also is the fact that the percentage of non-working population is the highest among Moslems, a community that constitutes 14.23 per cent (some 17 crore) of the population. This has also to do with the inhibitions and controls in the community against women being sent out of home for work. As high as 11.61 crore people from among the community — forming over 67 per cent of their population — are listed as Non-Workers. This also has to do with the community’s large-scale involvement in trade and merchandise as also resort to self-employment initiatives. This is against the national figure of non-workers at 72 crore, or 69 per cent, against a total population of over 120 crore.
However, what is appreciable about the census data vis-a-vis the Moslem segment is that the number of those getting educated in the 5-19 age-group up to graduation has increased by 44 per cent against the national average of about 30 per cent in the 10-year period. Among girls from the community, the increase is of a staggering 53 per cent.
This may be seen against the backdrop that students among the community constitute some 63 per cent of the 15-19 age group.
Education by itself might not be a guarantee to the youths from any community getting employment as the quality being imparted is extremely low. Generation of more employment opportunities for the large army of educated youths and ensuring equal opportunities for them could however help the economy prosper. Tapping the maximum potential of energetic youths in the nation-building process is the only guarantee to the country’s economic growth.
A pre-requisite for social cohesion and upward mobility is communal harmony. Generation of more job opportunities for the new army of educated youths should be a matter of first priority for governments.
The decline of the manufacturing sector — and by extension the industrialisation process — as a consequence of the Chinese economic invasion needs to be checked and reversed. While the public sector has largely proven to be a failure in the past — with notable exceptions, though — and not many new such enterprises are coming up, job generation has seen a fall over the years.
The large private sector is not putting in money either, on a large scale, other than select companies. Initiatives such as Make in India or other modes of strengthening the manufacturing/industrial sector must gain momentum and that is possible only if small and medium enterprises are encouraged while simultaneously shutting the doors to cheap Chinese imports.
The central government would do well to concentrate on such matters and openly debate and implement policies to revive domestic production and help create employment as well as entrepreneurship.