Rajiv Kumar: NDA govt must tackle unemployment problem

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi led-NDA government in its third term must tackle the problem of unemployment in the country, especially in the unorganised sector and in small and medium enterprises, former Niti Aayog VC Rajiv Kumar said on Monday.

Kumar also emphasised that the government now must finalise the four labour codes as it has been delayed beyond expectations.

“We must recognise that post-COVID economic recovery has been a K-shaped recovery. I think the most important reforms that the Modi government must take is one to tackle the unemployment problem, especially in the unorganised and the small and medium enterprises,” he said. According to a recent International Labour Organization (ILO) report, the share of unemployed youths in India’s total unemployed population was nearly 83 per cent in 2022.

“Therefore the large corporations have done very well and, also those who are highly skilled have done well. But at the lower end, people are without jobs and firms are struggling to expand their capacity,” the eminent economist said.

According to Kumar, one of the two important things about generating employment is one to further ease the conditions of work for the small and medium enterprises. There is still a lot of regulatory and compliance burden that SMEs face. “So they have to be tackled along with the state governments,” he said.

On the four labour codes, Kumar said “it has been a long time since they have been in the making, and I think they should be now finalised and made into statutes”. Kumar also stressed on giving more attention on skilling of youth, especially to apprenticeship development, saying schooling and the education system in India is lagging behind the demand.

“Our apprenticeship program needs a far bigger push than we have now and access to high quality education should be ensured because ultimately, these are the factors which will determine the employability and employment generation potential for our economy,” he noted.

Responding to a question that the government’s disinvestment program may face a coalition hurdle, Kumar said disinvestment has already taken a backseat over the past five years. The former Niti Aayog VC emphasised that privatisation and generating the revenues from it to reduce India’s public debt-to-GDP burden is a necessary and an important reform measure that should be taken.