For Prelims:

• Five major employment-related schemes announced in the Budget
• Periodic Labour Force Survey 2019-20 findings
• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)
• Industrial Training Institutes (ITI)
• Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs)
• Start Up Village Enterprise Programme (SVEP)

For Mains:

• Strategies for sustainable mass employment with dignity
• Role of education and skill development in employment
• Importance of community involvement in employment initiatives
• Balancing public and private sector roles in job creation

Highlights of the Article

• 12-point policy initiatives for sustainable mass employment
• Focus on decentralized community action for skill development
• Emphasis on improving education-employment linkages
• Importance of standardizing healthcare professional courses
• Need for investment in vocational training infrastructure

Context The article discusses the need for a comprehensive approach to create sustainable mass employment with dignity in India, in light of recent budget announcements and economic survey findings

UPSC EXAM NOTES ANALYSIS

1. Budget and Addressing Unemployment

• The recent Budget's announcement of five significant employment-focused schemes appears promising, with a substantial allocation of ₹2 lakh crore over five years aimed at creating jobs, enhancing skills, and providing opportunities for 4.1 crore young people.
• The Economic Survey has emphasized the importance of job creation, encouraging the private sector to step up, driven by lower taxes since 2019 and increased profits after the COVID-19 pandemic. The Prime Minister’s employment package should be viewed in conjunction with other measures aimed at improving human well-being.
• A practical, evidence-based approach to sustainable and dignified mass employment must start by acknowledging the downward pressure on wages when there is an abundance of unskilled labor. It is worth noting that the Periodic Labour Force Survey 2019-20 indicated that earning ₹25,000 a month places a worker in the top 10% of wage earners.
• Short-term skill programs have often resulted in low long-term job placements, mainly due to wages being insufficient for a dignified life in urban areas, causing many individuals to return to their villages in search of other opportunities.
• Further evidence highlights the connection between education and skills development. States like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, and Sikkim, which have higher monthly per capita consumption, also boast better human development indicators.
• In contrast, Odisha's emphasis on short-term skilling has not translated into high per capita consumption, largely due to the lack of robust secondary, higher, and vocational education opportunities.
• Achieving mass employment with dignity hinges on increasing productivity. While it is valid for the Economic Survey to call on the private sector to generate jobs, it is also crucial to recognize the state's responsibility in setting a minimum wage floor and ensuring the provision of high-quality public goods.
• There is ample evidence that public sector employment per capita in India is significantly lower than in most developed countries

• Start from the grassroots by implementing decentralized community actions to identify the specific skilling needs. Community involvement in state programs is best achieved through direct engagement, where gram sabhas or urban basti samitis can play a pivotal role in bringing government initiatives to the people.
• The approach should involve creating a registry of those seeking employment or self-employment and developing tailored plans for each individual with the help of professionals at the cluster level.
• Hiring well-educated professionals on a fixed-term basis at the local government level is crucial to ensure outcomes are evidence-based. This foundation should guide the selection of skill providers and employers, with apprenticeships also being rooted in community engagement. The impact of such an approach would be transformative, emphasizing a bottom-up strategy.
• Furthermore, there should be a convergence of efforts in education, health, skills, nutrition, livelihoods, and employment at the local government level, in collaboration with women’s collectives.
• This would enhance community accountability, supported by untied funds, functions, and functionaries, to ensure high-quality outcomes.
• Employment cannot improve in isolation; better results across human development indicators are achieved when initiatives are decentralized and integrated.
• Untied funds empower communities to make effective decisions, and adopting this approach can significantly improve India's performance in providing public goods such as education, health, nutrition, environment, and sanitation.
• Increased investment in these sectors, driven by decentralized community action, is essential for meaningful progress

 3. Education and Employability

• Third, implement need-based vocational courses and certificate programs alongside undergraduate degrees (B.A., B.Sc., B.Com.) in all colleges. While this has been done in the past, it now needs to be mandatory in every institution. Colleges should be provided with the resources to innovate. For instance, some colleges in Mumbai offer certificate courses such as tourist guiding and counseling alongside graduation. This approach will significantly enhance employability on a larger scale, making undergraduate programs more job-oriented.
• Fourth, standardize nursing and allied healthcare professional courses across all states to align with international benchmarks. There is a high demand for nurses, geriatric caregivers, and health paramedics both within and outside India. The major issue lies in the inconsistent quality of institutions and the lack of a standardized curriculum and course duration. It is essential to bring these skill sets up to international standards.
• Fifth, establish community cadres of caregivers to run universally accessible crèches, enabling women to work without worry. The current anganwadi service operates for four to six hours, which is insufficient given the high number of infants. There is a need to develop a community cadre of crèche caregivers, who can be compensated by local governments or women’s collectives after receiving thorough training. The Community Resource Persons model of the Rural Livelihood Mission is a good example to follow. These community cadres can also have multiple sources of livelihood in areas like agriculture, animal husbandry, non-farm activities, and retail.
• Sixth, invest in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and polytechnics as central hubs for skill development in feeder schools. The lack of quality and modern infrastructure in many ITIs, polytechnics, and Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) is a critical issue in an era that demands continuous upskilling and reskilling. These institutions should be autonomous and community-managed. Additionally, these technical institutions can serve as hubs for feeder schools, which should develop a framework to equate academic and vocational training in terms of credits and hours. The focus should be on states or districts with the least developed vocational education infrastructure. States like Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, with their large capacity, have significantly benefited their manufacturing sectors through such investments. Human capital development is crucial.
• Seventh, introduce enterprise and start-up skills taught by professionals in high schools. Schools should start teaching technology and entrepreneurship from the upper primary or high school level. Integrating experimentation, innovation, and a basic understanding of business processes into the school curriculum is essential. Professional visits to schools can help impart finishing skills to students, leading to better employment and entrepreneurial opportunities.
• Eighth, adopt a co-sharing model for apprenticeships at scale with industry. This is particularly important for the manufacturing and services sectors. Skilling costs should be shared with potential employers, as government-funded skilling programs alone may not be sufficient. For apprenticeships to be effective, the industry must have a vested interest in the process

4. Enterprises and creating employment

• Ninth, simplify access to working capital loans for women-led and first-generation enterprises to help them expand. The experiences of the lakhpati didis under the Rural Livelihoods Mission highlight the difficulties in obtaining such loans. Although efforts are being made to build comprehensive credit histories for each woman borrower, technology can play a crucial role in scaling up these initiatives. The Reserve Bank Innovation Hub and the National Rural Livelihoods Mission are working on innovative solutions to increase banks’ confidence in lending on a larger scale. The success of the Start-Up Village Enterprise Programme (SVEP) under NRLM underscores the importance of support, Community Enterprise Funds, and end-to-end solutions for first-generation entrepreneurs.
• Tenth, establish a universal skill accreditation program for institutions that provide training, with joint sponsorship of candidates by the state and industry. Skill providers should undergo a rigorous evaluation process to receive accreditation. Candidates could then be co-sponsored by the government and employers for these accredited courses.
• Eleventh, allocate 70% of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to the 2,500 most water-scarce and highly deprived blocks, prioritizing the poorest 20 families in these areas. MGNREGA’s individual beneficiary schemes can secure livelihoods through income-generating activities like animal sheds, irrigation wells, and work sheds. Emphasize skill development to enhance the productivity of MGNREGA workers, leading to better wages and improved living standards in extremely poor regions.
• Twelfth, expand apprenticeship programs to facilitate the integration of youth into the workforce. The scale of these programs must increase, with a strong emphasis on skill acquisition to prevent them from becoming routine stipend-based incentives. Government subsidies for employers should always be conditional on providing dignified wages upon the successful completion of apprenticeships. This approach aims to build a more advanced economy with higher productivity and an improved quality of life for workers

5. Conclusion