Job reports pose a problem for Plan panel

A fresh controversy has erupted within the Planning Commission over which is the most credible report on employment opportunities in the country. And, the trigger this time is a report prepared by the All India Management Association with Boston Consulting Group and Confederation of Indian Industry, and submitted to the Prime Minister AB Vajpayee by the Planning Commission member NK Singh. The report has projected that net workforce in developed countries would face a shortfall of 32-39 million and that India could target this shortage by providing remote services as well as by importing customers to the country and servicing them here. The report has also said that of the 40 million jobs that India could target from shortage of worforce in developed countries, remote services would account for 6 million jobs and import of customers could create 14 million jobs. The balance 20 million would be in form of indirect employment. What has Yojana Bhawan insiders miffed is that Mr Singh chose to be associated with the study group more in his personal capacity rather than officially as member Planning Commission. Further, Yojana Bhawan is also not happy that the report was submitted to the PM without keeping the deputy chairman of the commission in picture. And, adding more fuel to the controversy is the disclaimer at the beginning of the report. The disclaimer reads that the authors of the report have not verified the basic data for completeness or accuracy while projecting opportunities for 40 million outsourced jobs by 2020 and that changes in the underlying data or operating assumptions would impact the analyses and conclusions. Incidentally, most of the data used to make projections have been sourced from Planning Commission reports, National Sample Survey, IMF reports besides from CII and BCG's analysis. Commission sources have sought to dig holes in the strategic group's report for assumptions used to arrive at conclusions. These sources say that if the developed economies continue to growth at a maximum of 3-4% over the next decade, the shortfall in work force would not be more than 10-15 million. They added that in their estimation the developed nations are unlikely to face shortages till 2015.

Job reports pose a problem for Plan panel

A fresh controversy has erupted within the Planning Commission over which is the most credible report on employment opportunities in the country.

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