Panel asks states to monitor job situation

NEW DELHI: The Planning Commission (PC) wants state governments to closely monitor the employment situation, creation and loss of employment opportunities at the district level. The Commission has also asked the states to prepare a paper on employment strategy for the 10th Plan to ensure that the overall objective of creating one crore additional jobs is achieved.
Each state will present the paper before the Planning Commission and secretaries of select central ministries on Monday. The states have also been asked to suggest steps to raise non-farm employment and assess roadblocks to urban employment. They have been told to assess the effectiveness of measures to create new and successful small and medium set-ups in manufacturing, trade, transport, education, health, housing and other services.
The Commission, while acknowledging that states have taken initiatives to create employment in some of the areas, has said that there was a need to devise methodologies and procedures to make correct estimates of the hike in employment opportunities. The Commission has flagged the need for independent evaluation of various centrally sponsored schemes and state’s employment promotion schemes for its direct and indirect effect on employment.
Outlining some of the measures in a note to the state chief secretaries, the commission has said that state governments could take initiatives to create employment opportunities in labour intensive industries such as textiles, handlooms, khadi and village; food processing; service providing industries such as trade and tourism; social infrastructure, health, education, housing, civic amenities and organised establishments in the private sector.
It has also suggested that sectoral initiatives such as shifting of cropping pattern of agriculture in favour of more labour intensive crops, development of clusters of tiny/small industries and policies to encourage free movement of agriculture commodities could also yield large benefits in terms of employment generation.