The employment and unemployment situation among the social groups in North East regions of India

Transcription

1 The employment and unemployment situation among the social groups in North East regions of India Rabichandra Singh Elangbam Research Scholar, MS University, Vadodara. Abstract : Employment is considered a powerful tool for social inclusion. To what extent the people can take part in the development process is closely associated with the issue of employment. Inclusiveness is also about a growth process which is seen to be fair by different socioeconomic groups that constitute our society. For the overall development and sustainable growth in India giving focus only to industrialized states is not a viable option in long term. Focus should also be given to states which have potential and still nascent to the industrialization. The objective of this paper is to examine the employment and unemployment situation in North Eastern Region of India among four categories-st,sc,obc and others on the basis of the findings of 55 th round, 61 st round and 68 th round of NSS report. It involves a comparative study of North East India vis-à-vis All India. This paper is limited only to the 3 rounds of NSS report. The proportion unemployed of every social category is higher than the all India rates while the literacy rates are much higher in the North east region than the all India average. This shows the lack of jobs available and also the mismatch of job matrix. High literacy rate will encourage more and more people of every social category enter the labour force. Issues such as matching the skill matrix of the labour force with the skill matrix of the labour force associated with structural change in the economy needs to be examined with qualitative research. In short, proper policy is needed for creating jobs and ushering in economic growth. Keywords: NSS report, Unemployment, Employment, Literacy rates, inclusive growth Paper type: Inclusive Growth ISBN no Page 1077

2 Introduction In an economy like India with large surplus labour, importance of an employment oriented growth is obvious. jobless; growth is certainly not the most desirable form of growth. At the same time, an over emphasis on employment generation without any regard to productivity and incomes of workers is also not desirable, particularly in an economy where productivity and income levels are generally low.(papola 2013) As we know employment is the basic and one of the most important tool for economic development and inclusion, yet the problem of unemployment is still a perennial issue which seems to stay unless our government do something as soon as possible. The root cause of all the chaos and riots taking place can also be attributed to the problem of unemployment. Inclusiveness must also embrace the concern of other groups such as the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Minorities, the differently abled and other marginalised groups. Thus the assessment of any public policy has to be benchmarked on what happens in employment and unemployment situation in the economy. Job less growth cannot be an objective of planning. The overall sustainable growth of India lies not only on focusing the major industrial states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu but also giving importance and making other states like North east region of India to grow economically which means create job opportunities. North east region of India comprises of 8 states namely Arunachal, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. It has a total area of 262,230 sq km and total population of 38,857,769 as per 2011 census which is 3.1% of total population of India. Objective and methodology This paper will analyze the employment scenario of the marginalized groups of the North East region of India vis-à-vis all India. Data from NSSO for 55 th round, 61 st round and 68 th round are analyzed along with census data. The secondary data from the mentioned rounds have been ISBN no Page 1078

3 analyzed and concised to get a better understanding of the scenario and the changes through the years. This study has been limited to only the three rounds of NSS report because the previous report on social groups were very limited to analyze, therefore the 55 th round, 61 st round and 68 th round of Employment and Unemployment situation among the social group of India has been used. Employment scenario In the 55 th round of NSS report on Employment and Unemployment situation among social groups , the number of workers in north east region of India on the average is lower than the national average in all the groups as shown in the table 1.1 Rural State ST SC OBC Others Arunachal Assam Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Sikkim Tripura North East All India Table 1.1 Source: NSS 55 th round ISBN no Page 1079

4 Urban State ST SC OBC Others Arunachal Assam Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Sikkim Tripura North East All India Table 1.2 Source: NSS 55 th round In the above two figures namely 1.1 and 1.2 we can see that in 55 th round in the number of workers per 1000 persons in all the category for north east India is lower than the all India average. However in some states like Nagaland in rural areas the number of workers far exceeded the national average. It may be due to large number of people involved in agriculture mostly self employed. The 61 st round of employment and unemployment situation among the social group in India has Rural ISBN no Page 1080

5 State ST(S ST( SC( SC( OBC( OBC( Other( Others( All(s All( ) A) A) A) A) ) A) Arunachal Assam Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Sikkim Tripura North East All India Table 2.1 source: 61 st round NSS report It can be seen that regarding self employment in the ST, SC and Others group in rural areas, the north east region is above the national average. In terms of agriculture wage which consist of regular and casual wage the social groups of north east is far below the national average. This shows the formal type of employment with job security is hardly available. Urban State ST( ST( SC( SC( OBC( OBC( Others( Others( All( ALL( Arunach al Assam Manipur ISBN no Page 1081

6 Meghala ya Mizoram Nagalan d Sikkim Tripura North East All India Table.2.2 source: 61 st round NSS report In table 2.2 which is of urban region shows that self employed is below the national average and for each it is not as high compared to the rural regions and SC,ST and OBC community are better in regular wage jobs than the all India average of their respective community. OBC of Mizoram and Nagaland are far better than the India average in terms of regular wage jobs and also for Nagaland the SC of regular wage is 1000 per 1000 persons. However for Others self employment is higher than national average and lower in the case of regular wage. The 68 th round portrays a similar trend in terms of rural region. The self employment in the north east region is far greater than the national average. The SC and OBC group in Mizoram are almost self employed. Even Nagaland shows a majority of them in self employed category. Tripura has the least amongst the North east region in terms of self employment and even lesser than national average. For the urban region except for OBC the rest are greater than the national average. However the extent of being greater than national average is not much for most of the states except for Nagaland. It has 877 per 1000 persons who are self employed in the SC group which means a lot in urban region. Even Manipur has more than half around 66 percent of the SC group who are self employed. Nagaland in the OBC group has 0 person per 1000 who are self employed and also for regular wage. The reason may be because of the major portion of the land involved in agricultural employment and more of the urban being contractual casual labourers. ISBN no Page 1082

7 Rural State ST( ST( SC( SC( OBC( OBC( Others( Others( All( All( Arunachal Assam Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Sikkim Tripura North East All India Table 3.1 Source: 68 th round NSS report Urban State ST( ST( SC( SC( OBC( OBC( Others( Others( All( All( Arunach al Assam Manipur Meghala ya ISBN no Page 1083

8 Mizoram Nagalan d Sikkim Tripura North East All India Table 3.2 Source: 68 th round NSS report Literacy Scenario Education has positive correlation with development as it imparts basic knowledge and skills to the people. It makes them aware of the general surroundings and their rights for better living. Here we look into the literacy rate of the north eastern region vis-à-vis all India. The table 4.1 and 4.2 shows the literacy per 1000 persons (15+) on general education starting from primary of all the marginalized social groups and the total vis-à-vis all India. It shows that in urban as in table 4.1 the north east region have far outperformed the national average among all the social groups. Urban State ST SC OBC Others all Arunachal Assam Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram ISBN no Page 1084

9 Nagaland Sikkim Tripura North East All India Table 4.1 Source: 55 th round NSS report In table 4.2 it shows the literacy per 1000 persons in the rural region of North east vis-à-vis India. Even in the case of rural areas the north east region is above the national average, which shows literacy rate is good. Rural State ST SC OBC Others All Arunachal Assam Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Sikkim Tripura North East All India Table 4.2 Source: 55 th round NSS report Table 4.3 and 4.4 shows the rural and urban literacy in the 61 st round of NSS report. Similar to the 55 th round this round also shows similar trend. The literacy rate of north east region of India is above the national average. Mizoram has 100% literacy rate in OBC and Others categories. ISBN no Page 1085

10 Rural State ST SC OBC Others All Arunachal Assam Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram 966 _ Nagaland 786 _ Sikkim Tripura North East All India Table 4.3 source: 61 st round NSS report Urban State ST SC OBC Others All Arunachal Assam Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Sikkim Tripura North East ISBN no Page 1086

11 All India Table 4.4 Source: 61 st round NSS report The 68 th round of NSS report shows that the north east region of India literacy rate is above national average. So the literacy rate is pretty good in this region. SC category in Meghalaya and Mizoram is almost 100% literate. As far as pushing the limits of literacy rate in many parts of the country, north east region does not have problem in this aspect. However the quality of education is yet to be seen and this paper is limited to only till this extent i.e. literacy rate. Urban and rural combined of literacy per 1000 persons State ST SC OBC Others all Arunachal Assam Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Sikkim Tripura N.E All India Table 5.1 Source: 68 th round NSS report Conclusion The proportion unemployed of every social category is higher than the all India rates. The self employment is also higher in most of the social categories mostly in rural areas and some parts in ISBN no Page 1087

12 urban too, this is vulnerable as it shows lack of social and job security. High literacy rate will encourage more and more people of every social category enter the labour force. Issues such as matching the skill matrix of the labour force associated with structural change in the economy arises. Government needs to focus its policy towards creating more intensive and labour oriented work which can benefit the surplus labourers. The vocational training centres should be increased maintaining quality so that the mismatch of labour required and available labourer is solved. In short, proper policy is needed for creating jobs and ushering in economic growth. Reference: Govt. of India (2013) Twelfth Five Year Plan( ): Faster, More Inclusive and Sustainable growth Vol. 1 Planning Commission, Delhi, Sage Publications India Pvt.Ltd. Govt. of India (2015) Employment and Unemployment Situation among social groups in India NSS report no. 563(68/10/4),Jan., Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Govt. of India (2006) Employment and Unemployment Situation among social groups in India NSS report no. 516(61/10/2),Oct., Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Govt. of India (2001) Employment and Unemployment Situation among social groups in India NSS report no. 469(55/10/7),Sept., Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Papola,T.S(2013) Economic Growth And Employment Linkages : The India Experience, ISID Working Paper: 2013/01. ISBN no Page 1088