MISSION MODE

PM Orders The Recruitment Of 10 Lakh People

Mission Employement

The mega employment push ordering the recruitment of 10 lakh people in the next 1.5 years by PM Modi in a ‘’mission mode’’ after reviewing the status of human resources in all central government ministries and departments. The aim is to increase employment opportunities besides improving the employability of the public. The announcement came at a time when the unemployment rate for youth (aged 15-29 years) in urban areas has been hovering at over 20 % for the last several quarters. The government's decision comes amid the opposition's frequent criticism of it on the issue of unemployment. A large number of vacant posts has often been flagged in different government sectors. 

Rate of Unemployement in COVID-19

Although manifesting some respite, the latest periodic labour force survey by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme implementation (MoSPI) released that India’s unemployment rate dived further to 4.2 % in 2020-21 despite the said period witnessing two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic which had left millions of workers jobless & led to the suspension of field work. It stood at 4.8 % in 2019-20, 5.8 % in 2018-19 and 6.1 % in 2017-18. As on March 1, 2020, there had been over 8.72 lakh vacant posts in the Central govt departments, the govt had informed the Rajya Sabha on February 2 this year. As many as 910,153 vacancies existed as on March 1, 2019, & 683,823 on March 1, 2018, according to Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh. Owing to the high unemployment rate, & few recruitments made by the Central government, there were reports of resentment among youth

India’s joblessness peaked at 23.5% in April 2020, when Covid hit all of us, but had dropped to 7.9% in December 2021, only to rise again, according to industry data. Most countries saw rise in unemployment in 2020 when Covid-induced lockdowns meant job cuts. But India fared worse than even countries like Bangladesh, Mexico and Vietnam. Unemployment in India stood at 8.1% in February 2022. It dropped to 7.6 in March but again rose to 7.8% in April. Only 40% of Indians were employed or searching for work, in comparision to the global average of about 60%. There are 13 million active jobseekers in India which is Asia's third-largest economy with only 220,000 vacancies. Due to fewer jobs availability, more youth are discouraged and are compelled to opt menial roles or look to move abroad, which exhibits the overall labour participation rate dropped from 46 % to 40 % between 2017 & 2022. 

Aatmanirbhar Bharat 

The Aatmanirbhar Bharat package for providing stimulus to businesses and mitigating the adverse effects of COVID-19 had been announced by the govt. of India. Under this package, the government focused on the fiscal stimulus of more than Rs 27 lakh crore that comprised numerous schemes focusing on providing employment to more people. on 1 October 2020, Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY) was launched with effect, as part of Atmanirbhar Bharat package 3.0 to provide incentives to employers for the creation of new employment opportunities along with the social security benefits & restoration of loss of employment during the ongoing COVID-19. The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) implemented this scheme with an aim to lessen the financial burden of the employers that boosts them to hire more workers.

PM Modi’  Vision

The big picture unravels a different aspect that filling these 10 lakh job vacancies may not be the remedy to India’s job problem. Recruiting 10 lakh people in the next 18 months will help the PM Modi present a better progress report when the country goes to the polls in 2024. The government will also have to generate more jobs alongside filling them, as it promised during every election. The state governments along with the private sector will also have to perform more on the jobs front. Though we can't reckon much on government jobs, for they are a few lakhs, while the necessity is in quite larger numbers. Only fast economic growth has the potential to generate real employment opportunity. Expediting economic reforms & increasing deregulation can be bolstered by the government. it is government spending, and more particularly government job recruitment that can offer some relief in the coming crisis. State governments should take a lesson from the Centre. The only thing to be noticed here is these helpful schemes being announced by the PM should be for real and not remain on paper.