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  • Category: Miscellaneous

    We need more of secure jobs for economic revival

    We really have two Indias within one major country. The first India is the rich India that includes a huge chunk of highly educated English medium educated people, who have good access to good healthcare and quality education at the PG level and hence are well placed to lead fairly good lives with some disposable income. I am in this bracket as well.

    At the other end of the spectrum are millions who still suffer with incomes that do not exceed Rs20000/-, per month at 2024 prices and live horrible hand to mouth lives. Since they have access to the Public Distribution System of some rations, they do not starve but only contribute to the economy of the poor.

    In the past few years, there has been a horrible scheme called Fixed Term Employment, where the recruits are trained for a maximum of three years with some consolidated salary and PF benefits but they are not on regular rolls.

    Dr Raguram Rajan, one of the best former RBI Governors has discussed this aspect in his book,"Breaking the Mould", where he talks about interacting with family members of peons and drivers and such other personnel of RBI at his residence, when they would have dinner with him once a year. He mentions that the secure jobs of RBI has ensured that the children of these personnel have educated their sons very well.

    Do we have such a safety net in the FTE scheme? There are hundreds of Dates who jump from one FTE job to another, more so in manufacturing. We really need to have a policy for regular employment of trainees after a training period of two or three years.

    We really more social security for the educated.
  • #777467
    All this is happening because of competition in the manufacturing sector. As an HR professional, Sivakumar might have seen still worse situations in private organisations. There are some companies which give their operations to the contractor and the contractor will give jobs to workers on piece-rated remuneration. In this system, the payment will be made based on the production done by the individual. There is another system called Badali workers. Some workers will be called and based on the work available some of them will be allowed to work and the remaining will be asked to return. These are all in private companies only I think. All such workers will not have any regular employment and that may be for fixed term only.
    Many people work as Security guards in small companies and they have to work for 12 hours they may be paid a maximum of Rs.15,000/- and they even may not have PF and other statutory benefits. The situation will improve only when the competition comes down and more and more employment potential comes.

    drrao
    always confident

  • #777470
    I fully agree that there should be security net for the poor people so that they should at least survive in this tough world. One solution could be to provide some small government job to a large number of people but whether managing such a task force in Govt sector and get good productivity from them is possible or not is to be seen. In past we have seen that more the Government employees more the trade unions and more the agitations. Strikes were the order of the day.
    Giving everything in private sector has its own troubles because private companies will recruit minimum people taking maximum work by giving good salary.
    So, there are no easy solutions in sight but yes efforts have to be done by the Government in this direction.

    Knowledge is power.

  • #777474
    As Rao Sir and Umesh Sir have said, the situation is really grim. The horrible display of wealth at a pre-wedding function of the Ambani family at Jamnagar and the horrible sale of a kind of Yoga and spirituality near Coimbatore city by a fake Guru with terrific political connections are two recent instances of vulgar display of wealth. The fellow collects Rs 5000 and above from the rich people and dances for most of the night of Mahashivaratri. One can see tears flowing down from some foolish devotees at 12 AM midnight.

    Where are we going? What security are we going to give to the teeming millions who keep on suffering? The rich becoming richer is becoming a fact of life.

  • #777475
    India is heading in the same direction of China and Bangladesh, where cheap labour was used to manufacture goods for exporting to other developed countries. Most of the developed countries outsource their manufacturing to developing countries, like India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam, where cheap labour is available because of high unemployment and overpopulation. The competition for menial jobs means employers are exploiting the labourers by making them work for salaries that is nothing in comparison to international standards.

    Earlier India was known as call center of the world, but now it will be known as the cheap labour center of the world. BPO industry is dying now because of AI, which will remove the call center tag of India but a new tag is surely coming because a large population has to work to earn their livelihood. Even BTech graduates are willing to work in such factories because there is no other option available for them. Indian employers are not going leave any way to increase their profits. I don't think government is also interested in setting up a minimum wage for workers, all they want is people working for pennies and living on free ration every month. Also, you can't expect a secure job in a country where 150 crore people are fighting for survival.

    Humble yourself or life will do it for you!

  • #777478
    To help the poor people, first thing is to generate employment and engage them so that they can earn their livelihood. Once that is done then comes the task of uplifting them to better financial position in society by providing additional avenues of earning. It is easy to say that but is a difficult work for any Government.
    In a capitalist system private companies dominate the scenario of employment everywhere. To maximize their profit they employ minimum work force. So progress in the business is creating less employment and that is the irony of the situation.
    In the recent years we have seen that Government is extending some small help in terms of family ration and other financial aids to the poor but that would be of a temporary basis because until we provide full time employment, the people will never be engaged fully for increasing the production activity, increasing the GDP, and making the nation progress.

    Thoughts exchanged is knowledge gained.

  • #777483
    I have read this Forum post and subsequent responses with interest. Sivakumar Sir has raised various issues in one single post. It is almost impossible to discuss/adress all these issues in one post.

    However, I am trying to address two issues raised by Sivakumar Sir. According to him, the wealthy few in our country are amassing wealth. In this connection, I would humbly state that this is a particular feature of capitalism. In this system, whether one likes it or not, some people will amass wealth in their kitty. And this wealth is displayed in various ways. One such way is to display the wealth in marriages of the family-members. We may criticize it but we also try to follow the footsteps of these wealthy people as best as we can.

    Secondly, Sivakumar Sir has raised the issue of providing security net for lower-middle-class people or people who remain below the poverty line. In this regard, I would like to state that the Central Government and some State Governments have been trying to provide different types of security net to the people belonging to these groups. I am astonished to find that the author or the members who have responded to this post, have not mentioned even a single security net. So, I am providing some examples of security net provided by the Central and State Governments in my next response.

    (a) Those who have forgotten Noakhali, how can they protest Sandeshkhali?
    (b) Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it. ---------- Salvador Dali

  • #777484
    (Contd. from previous response)

    1. I am perplexed to find that no member has mentioned Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna (PMSBY), which is basically an accident insurance for people from lower-middle-class group or Below Poverty Line. I know that this particular scheme is hugely popular among the labour group all over the country.
    2. Similarly, during my current training, I have come to know about One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) scheme which is hugely beneficial and popular among the labours who work in different states. This scheme has been initiated by the Department of Food & Supplies and Consumer Affairs under Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
    3. West Bengal Government's Kanyashree scheme has benefitted unmarried girls from poor families and is instrumental for continuing education for girl-children from underprivildged group. UN has acknowledged the benefits being derived by this scheme.
    4. Many state governments have initiated schemes like 'shadi sagoon' which are helping under-priviledged families to marry off their daughters when they reach marriageable age.
    5. PM-JAY scheme provides a cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization across public and private empanelled hospitals in India. Over 12 crore poor and vulnerable entitled families (approximately 55 crore beneficiaries) are eligible for these benefits.
    6. Atal Pension Yojna provides pensionary benefit to a huge number of people when they can't income-generating work after becoming senior citizen.

    There are many other schemes for lower-middle-class and poor people. All these security nets are well-known and very popular among the 'lavarthis'/target groups. I find it astonishing that members seem to forget these hugely popular schemes most of which have received international recognition.

    Finally, I do admit that the Central and State Governments have a lot more to do for under-priviledeged people of the country. But, we cannot simply deny the existence of many such epoch-making schemes initiated and carried out by the welfare state.

    (a) Those who have forgotten Noakhali, how can they protest Sandeshkhali?
    (b) Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it. ---------- Salvador Dali

  • #777491
    Partha has provided detailed measures by the Govt to help the lower class through various schemes and insurance mechanisms. Giving so many facilities to the large population of our country is not a small thing.
    Now, I want to add one point here that is the creating of employment in manufacturing segment and there is good scope in companies engaged in agri products, food packaging, millets, preserved foods having few months self life, snacks, etc and by increasing the production in these areas we can try to compete in international market and increase our exports also. Such large scale employment generation is already being exercised in countries like China.
    By generating employment we can improve the financial conditions of many people belonging to lower class. They would feel more secure with that.

    Knowledge is power.

  • #777492
    The main problem that I understand is the life of below-poverty-line people is better than the life of a lower-middle-class man. We are seeing many people working in private companies where the turnovers and profits are very low. They get very meagre salaries but they will not fall under this below poverty line group. They are not eligible for any schemes that are being provided by the government, especially in towns. They are not getting any financial help. How to address this is the question. Minimum wages act implementation is a must and employment generation is also equally important.
    drrao
    always confident

  • #777495
    Reference #777492: "The main problem that I understand is the life of below-poverty-line people is better than the life of a lower-middle-class man. "-------- In this connection, I humbly submit that Ujjwala Scheme or Atal Pension Yojna, etc. benefits lower-middle-class people equally.
    In actuality, almost all of us don't know about the various welfare schemes of the Central Government or the State Governments. I have seen that the actual beneficiaries (i.e. poor people or lower-middle-class people) are very much aware of these schemes.

    (a) Those who have forgotten Noakhali, how can they protest Sandeshkhali?
    (b) Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it. ---------- Salvador Dali

  • #777499
    It is really good news that the people living below the poverty line are covered by the different schemes to make their lives comfortable. However, there is a demarcation line and exceeding that category will make the people deprived of the schemes meant for the people below poverty line.
    How the standards of the people not fitting to the poverty line can be raised is a different issue. The government needs to think of schemes suitable to these classes. Freebies are not the real solutions for them. They should be covered with such a scheme assuring them of respectable incomes from the different enterprises such as agro-based and other industries concentrating on putting the standards of common men.

  • #777504
    I am really glad that the Centre and state government's schemes apply to lower middle-class people also. These schemes should be advertised widely so that people who deserve them will apply and benefit.
    drrao
    always confident


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