Unemployment in India is a major issue, with estimates of unemployed or underemployed Indians ranging from 70-100 million. This level of unemployment undermines India's development goals and has led to social and economic problems. While India's economy has grown recently, this growth has not generated enough jobs, and unemployment may be rising. The government has implemented various programs aimed at job creation, rural development, skills training, and entrepreneurship, but these efforts have faced challenges in addressing the enormous scale of unemployment in India. Expanding employment opportunities remains a critical priority for India's future.

1. “Jobs in India are shrinking at an alarming rate. Privatization and globalization have
further aggravated the problem. Instead of generating employment, they have rendered
millions of hands idle. American policies are effective there but not in India where the
accursed ones are left to fend for themselves leading to frustration, disappointment, anger
and violence".
Unemployment is the mother of countless ills. It is such a poison that pollutes the society,
endangers the democratic fabric of the country. We can't expect nobility, honesty and
truth from a person who is unable to manage two square meals a day for his family. An
unemployed person has no sense of self-respect as he has no sense of security.
"Rightly", said by Franklin, “A ploughman on his feet is better than a gentleman on his
knees. "
Estimates of the total number of Indians unemployed or underemployed vary between 70
and 100 million. This figure can cause concern to any nation, but to a developing country
like ours, it is the cause of great distress. A developing country must mobilize its
manpower resources to the maximum possible extent and a developing country with such
a large segment of its population unemployed or underemployed is a contradiction in
terms.
In India the specter of frustration of misery and hunger of fallen hopes and barren dreams
of bitter pain and dark despair haunts the unemployed.
It is true that the future of a country depends on the ability and the mental attitudes of its
young men and women then India has already lost the will to develop. If India allows her
young men to be gripped by insecurity and frustration, she will have to pay for
modernization and rapid advancement with several years of stagnation.
The universities with their techniques of mass education and system of examination, offer
little information and less understanding. The grapes at the end of the course, acquired
after many years of ill-spent effort and spending bulk of hard earned money of the
parents, very often turn out to be sour, as the degrees soon prove valueless, and succeed
neither in increasing the students' mental alertness and intellectual capabilities nor in
raising their chances of employment.
The student unable to secure employment passes on from one academic degree to another
from one vacuum to another and as he goes on, the employment that he desires becomes
increasingly elusive. At the end of the process, the student very soon realize that he is not
a first-class intellectual who can step out of the university into waiting eager commercial
units; that he is not doing them a favor by joining them but that they are doing him a
favor by accepting him.
Many of them drift aimlessly into coffee houses, theatres and billiard clubs in an effort to
escape from the world in which they are sure they have no place and utility., Should not

2. this in itself cause distress to a nation which requires all possible physical and
psychological assistance with which to develop?
"Employment generation is an issue of life and death for our democracy”, says Amit
Mitra, secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry, a business lobby.
India was Asia's fastest expanding economy in the most recent quarter data Growth is its
highest in nearly 15 years. Glitzy shopping malls are springing up and a culture of
consumption is taking root as foreign companies are attracted by cheap labour.
But growing unemployment is forcing people from rural areas to migrate in hordes to
nearby cities and towns, creating slums, social unrest and electricity and water shortages.
"There is some truth in the fact that jobs have not grown as much as expected as the
economy has grown," Ashok Lahiri, chief economic adviser to the government, told
Reuters, "We have to expand employment. There is no doubt about that. "But even
getting to grips with the scale of the problem is hard enough: India does not regularly
release unemployment data and forming a view on the trends has to come from a
combination of rarely issued official reports and anecdotal evidence.
Millions of laboring, street vending and farm jobs fall below the government’s radar
screen and getting information on them is a daunting task. Some 92 percent of Indian jobs
are thought to be informal. Even for the remaining eight percent, the numbers are hard to
come by. The government issues an employment report once every five years and
economists can glean trends from Indian census data which is published every 10 years.
The world’s top economies publish data every month. India estimate un-employment
currently to be around 7.8 percent, a government official said. Whether it is, the figure
looks to be on the rise. The Planning Commission says nearly35 million people are
registered with employment exchanges from 27 million four years ago.
India knows one thing based on demographic trends, is that to keep the jobless rate from
rising more, it must create some 60 million jobs in five years as more Indians enter the
job market. More than 65 percent of the population is under 35. India expects economic
growth of at least eight percent in the year ended March 2004. But economists say it's not
enough to create 12 million jobs a year. For instance,the country's success in information
technology and emerging areas such as retail and tourism is expected to adjust some 2.2
million jobs in the next few years, according to industry estimates. Government adviser
Lahiri bristles at the suggestion this is a jobless recovery. "I don 't think the growth has
been jobless is an overstatement” he said.
But economists say the trend threatens long-term prospects."If we fail to create more jobs
it will lead to a lot of social tension which in turn will hurt the economy," said Saumitra
Chaudhuri, economic adviser at Indian credit finl1 ICRA."Large unemployment for a
country like India is not something desirable," he said.

3. Some economists say the jobs problem stems from an economic liberalization
programme launched more than a decade ago. The country's huge public sector has shed
thousands of jobs since it stepped on the road to privatization in the early 1990s.The
Planning Commission, in a report on employment published last year, attributed rising
joblessness to a policy of shedding excess labour in both the private and public sector. It
said companies had stepped up investment in plants and machinery more than in labour-
intensive industries.Economists add that a $53 billion fiscal deficit prevents the
government from creating employment by spending more on social sectors such as health
and education." We should be looking for a fiscal-led economic expansion based on the
basic needs of the people which will have a much higher multiplier effect," says Jayati
Ghose, professor at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University.
In the light of this the task of harnessing the unemployed should be put on a war footing.
Massive urban recruitment will be useless as the cities which have got along well enough
without the recruits, can certainly continue to do so. Besides, massive urban recruitment
will be. inflationary and hence is impracticable. The unemployed population should be
mobilized for rural reconstruction, especially as the villages lack technical know-how and
also that 70 per cent of India's population lives there. Stressing on agronomy will
augment rural reconstruction, enlighten the farmers, raise agricultural production,
conserve foreign exchange and above all be a step towards self-sufficiency and
employment for ail.
The only other country which successfully mobilized vast populations for national
development is China. If we are to mobilize our man power resources we must learn from
the mistakes of China during her Great Leap Forward. The Chinese made three basic
mistakes. Firstly, the peasants were given inadequate training. Secondly, the tax levied on
agriculture communes was exorbitant often is high as 70 per cent the total produce.
Finally, recruitment was governed not by considerations of merit and ability to do the job,
but by loyalty to the Communist Party and on ideological grounds. In India the
counterpart of this last mistake is recruitment of workers on communal, regional and
linguistic grounds. This must go. It is the duty of every responsible and patriotic Indian to
herald in a new 'meritocracy.'
Unemployment in our country has become such a complicated, economic, social and
political issue, that requires urgent steps to eliminate its scourge. Half hearted measures
or temporary solutions will not yield any fruitful results. The foremost requirement is the
overhauling the existing educational system. We have to change the system from
producing white collar job seekers to practically job oriented technocrats, capable to start
their own ventures There should be perfect coordination and integration between our
education and the industrial environment. We have to search new avenues in farm sector,
herbal and medical fields to provide job opportunities after completing the education by
the students. India should also go for fast development of cottage and small industries.
Government should take effective steps so that the globalization does not effect the small
and cottage industries.The industrial development can relieve us from this problem to a
great extent. We must concentrate on labour intensive units. We have to plan and exploit
our industrial potential to the fullest extent to provide jobs to the fellow youths. In a

4. nutshell the problem of unemployment has to be dealt with on war footing lest the youth
should be diverted to some wrong path.
Schmes to reduce un employment in India
Apart from the programs which are mainly aimed at the development of infrastructure,
such as construction of small and large dams, canals and roads, the government strategies
to generate employment are closely associated with poverty-alleviation programs.
Nevertheless, the government has undertaken many special programs to generate
employment opportunities. The major ones among them are:
Rural Works Program: This program aims at construction of civil works of permanent
nature in rural areas.
Integrated Dry Land Agricultural Development: Under this scheme, permanent works
like soil conservation, development of land and water harnessing are undertaken.
National Rural Employment Program: This program aims to create community assets for
strengthening rural infrastructure, like drinking water wells, community irrigation wells,
village tanks, minor irrigation works, rural roads and schools.
The Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Program: It aims at generating gainful
employment, creating productive assets in rural areas and improving the overall quality
of rural life.
Skill Development: One of the major issues relating to unemployment is skill
development. Change in the production methods has led to increase in demand for skilled
labor. A skilled laborer is one who has proper training and education to work in a
particular field. Training and education increase the productivity of workers.
Skill development means:
To educate and provide specialized training to the labor force in order to increase their
productivity.
To ensure continuous employability of labor.
To be able to absorb the new technologies at the work.
To compete with the labor force of the other developed countries.
With a view to impart skills through training, the Government of India has taken many
steps. The Central Board of Workers' Education (CBWE), formed in 1958 is doing
significant work by creating understanding and enthusiasm among workers for the

5. success of industrial growth. There are around 4300 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs)
operating in India to produce specialized workers. Various ministries of the Government
of India are providing vocational education and training. Vocational education has been
integrated at the school level as well. In the school system, there is a provision for
vocational education after Class X.
But there are a number of problems associated with these steps. The ITIs need
restructuring and reorientation of their courses at a much faster rate so as to respond
effectively to the current and future needs of the job market Further the Industry-Institute
interaction continues to be weak. The vocational courses offered by the school system are
to be modified in accordance with the manpower needs of the day.
Entrepreneurial Development: Growth of employment involves setting up of new
businesses, which apart from capital need expertise and organizing ability. Providing
training for this purpose and implementing schemes to promote entrepreneurship has,
therefore, been considered necessary for promoting self-employment.
The government has implemented a number of schemes for providing low cost capital to
the small enterprises and self-employed persons. The schemes are aimed at developing
their entrepreneurial ability, guiding them in preparation of project reports for financial
assistance and giving technical and professional help in running their businesses.
Financial institutions like banks have helped in this process by providing credit facilities
at concessional rates. These measures have brought about positive results in recent years
as a new class of entrepreneurs different from the earlier family-based businesses has
emerged. This group has helped in expansion of India's industries and businesses into
newer domains and regions.

6. success of industrial growth. There are around 4300 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs)
operating in India to produce specialized workers. Various ministries of the Government
of India are providing vocational education and training. Vocational education has been
integrated at the school level as well. In the school system, there is a provision for
vocational education after Class X.
But there are a number of problems associated with these steps. The ITIs need
restructuring and reorientation of their courses at a much faster rate so as to respond
effectively to the current and future needs of the job market Further the Industry-Institute
interaction continues to be weak. The vocational courses offered by the school system are
to be modified in accordance with the manpower needs of the day.
Entrepreneurial Development: Growth of employment involves setting up of new
businesses, which apart from capital need expertise and organizing ability. Providing
training for this purpose and implementing schemes to promote entrepreneurship has,
therefore, been considered necessary for promoting self-employment.
The government has implemented a number of schemes for providing low cost capital to
the small enterprises and self-employed persons. The schemes are aimed at developing
their entrepreneurial ability, guiding them in preparation of project reports for financial
assistance and giving technical and professional help in running their businesses.
Financial institutions like banks have helped in this process by providing credit facilities
at concessional rates. These measures have brought about positive results in recent years
as a new class of entrepreneurs different from the earlier family-based businesses has
emerged. This group has helped in expansion of India's industries and businesses into
newer domains and regions.