In most countries, unemployment is a clean-cut, easily understandable — and identifiable — problem. In India, it’s not that simple. The complexity of our economy, the barbed-wire fence of restrictions that surround our “organised” sector, the tendency towards seasonal work, and the networks of caste, clan and kinship that still govern employment in many parts make answering the simple question “How many of India’s workers are unemployed?” very difficult indeed. The labour ministry...
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‘9.4% unemployed, agriculture accounts for less than half of all jobs’ by Amitav Ranjan
A first-ever survey by the Labour Bureau under the Union Ministry of Labour has shown that chronic unemployment — being jobless for more than six months — in India for 2009-10 stands at 9.4 per cent of the population, more than thrice the 2.8 per cent estimated by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). The survey was conducted in 300 districts among the 28 states and union territories with working class...
More »'Nearly 10%' of Indians are without jobs
Nearly 10% of Indians are without jobs, a new study of the country's labour force has found. The study by the federal labour ministry was conducted in some 46,000 households in 28 states all over the country. It also found that over 85% of Indians had no access to social security. Various surveys have pegged India's unemployment rate between 2.8 to more than 10%. Analysts say the actual figure is much higher. They say...
More »What is wrong with MG-NREGA?
Can we afford to leave MG-NREGA alone? Why is the civil society crying foul? Are the rural activists demanding too much? Is the UPA-II trying to take back what UPA-I gave before the elections? Let us face it, the MG-NREGA is in a big crisis. NAC members like Aruna Roy and Jean Dreze have alleged (See links below) that the present remuneration of rural workers is declining by the day and it...
More »Process begins for statutory central minimum wage by Sreelatha Menon
States may set it higher, not lower; planned link to cost of living. The Minimum Wages Act will be amended to enact a new centrally set minimum, in the wake of the National Advisory Council's suggestion on asymmetries in this regard between states on payments for work done on schemes under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). The Union labour ministry has begun consultations on the proposed change and on making...
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