Unemployment

Millions of people across the country are either without jobs or are underemployed. They continue to be a burden on their families. With uncertainty written on their faces, they choose to leave their homes for other parts of the country in search of employment. The harsh truth that does not make our political leaders in the states and at the Centre lose a bit of sleep is that there indeed are not enough jobs going in the country. What happened in Mumbai, Assam, and Bihar is only a symptom of this problem which is more serious than is being realized by leaders across the political spectrum.

Dim prospects staring the jobless and their pent-up anger can burst into violence and play havoc with social and political stability in the country. This, in turn, can threaten the survival of democracy in India. Politicians have simplistic remedies for serious problems: Reservation of jobs for particular in castes, or local people, or one section of society or another. This approach is only aimed at securing vote-banks and against a promise of employment.

Our politicians, busy as they are in their pursuit of power and allied concerns, do not know the threat, a failure to tackle unemployment can pose to the very power base they are thriving on. Those in the street without jobs are not really impressed by their argument that the benefits of a higher growth rate will trickle down and one day create jobs for them.