Montek report dumped, new panel for new jobs

new delhi: if you thought fiscal discipline and downsizing meant no more government jobs, you thought wrong. large-scale recruitment of primary education and healthcare workers is on the anvil to create the targeted 10 million jobs per annum. the new thinking is following the government's move to scrap the montek singh ahluwalia recommendations on employment opportunities. not surprisingly, when the government is in doubt, it creates another expert committee. and, the new committee, headed by planning commission member s p gupta, has come out with views diametrically opposite to those spelt out by mr ahluwalia. while the official line is that the government is still 'examining' the ahluwalia committee report, sources said, the fresh bouquet of suggestions, which talks of an agriculture-driven job creation, will find place in the broad policy framework of second generation reforms. the new committee has the advantage of incorporating the latest 2001 census data into its evaluation of the unemployment levels in the country. the differences are quite stark. one, the unemployment rate is much higher in the new report at 10 per cent of the total workforce against the ahluwalia committee's finding of a meagre 2 per cent. the total workforce level stands at 400 million of which the unemployed accounts for 40 million, sources said. two, the ahluwalia report said, we do not expect significant growth in total employment opportunities in agriculture.'' contrary to this, the new report hinges on agriculture as the key driver to job creation. sources said the earlier report's tilt towards creating quality jobs had little realistic bearing as one cannot think of quality, in the sense of higher wages, when large number of people are lying idle.'' as per the new findings, the new jobs will not be in the organised sector barring government initiatives in the field of education, healthcare and road transport. and, in the formal organised sector labour is getting more than its slice. therefore, it is in the new sectors of watershed and wasteland development, minor irrigation, fruit processing and diversified agriculture that new jobs will be created. the government is thinking of an incentive structure for farmers to diversify from cereal crops to other kinds of fruits and vegetables. the second sector which, according to the panel, will be flush with jobs is the small and medium sector. the only glitch is making available credit access and promotion of branding and marketing. the ahluwalia report distinctly identified the services sector where over 70 per cent of the new jobs would be created. however, the new findings does not burden services alone with the task of creating 10 million jobs. it says services growth would have to be supplemented by increased manufacturing and industrial activity. the much-hyped it-led job boom is also not realistic as the base weightage for this sector is very low, experts said.

Montek report dumped, new panel for new jobs

NEW DELHI: If you thought fiscal discipline and downsizing meant no more government jobs, you thought wrong. Large-scale recruitment of primary education and healthcare workers is on the anvil to create the targeted 10 million jobs per annum.

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