Lok
Sabha
Elections
2004
Campaign Booklets
No
Jobs
for
Millions
Five
years
of
BJP-led
misrule
has
ruined
the
country’s
employment
situation
and
even
the
future
potential
for
employment
growth.
The
Tenth
Plan
document
says
that
3.485
crore
persons
were
unemployed
in
2001–02,
compared
to
2.644
crores
in
1999–2000.
It
further
estimates
that
in
the
next
five
years,
approximately
70
lakh
additional
persons
will
be
looking
for
jobs
every
year.
Registered
unemployed
in
the
Employment
Exchanges
stood
at
4.16
crores
in
August
2002
as
against
3.91
crores
in
1997.
Employment
statistics
provided
periodically
by
the
government
have
always
been
gross
underestimates.
Independently,
and
more
reliably,
it
is
estimated
that
actual
unemployment
is
in
the
region
of
7%
of
the
population,
i.e.,
about
7
crores.
Even
existing
jobs
are
getting
reduced,
or
conditions
of
work
are
being
made
more
onerous,
for
lesser
returns.
Thus
more
and
more
people
are
forced
to
seek
work
as
wages
stagnate
or
decline.
Insecurity
and
drudgery
have
increased
for
the
vast
mass
of
people
even
as
life
‘shines’
for
the
rich.
The
annual
average
growth
rate
of
the
economy
was
6.7%
during
1992–97,
prior
to
the
BJP
regime
coming
to
power.
It
has
declined
to
below
5%
during
the
period
1998–2002
–
indicating
that
economic
productive
activity
has
slowed
down.
The
Special
Group
on
Targetting
Ten
Million
Employment
Opportunities
per
year
set
up
by
the
Planning
Commission
admits
that
even
if
the
growth
rate
of
the
economy
increases
to
8%
per
annum,
only
60
lakh
jobs
can
be
created
per
year.
Actually,
estimates
are
that
about
30
lakh
jobs
have
been
generated
per
year
in
the
recent
past
–
a
far
cry
from
the
one
crore
jobs
per
year
promised
by
the
BJP-led
government.
The
experience
of
the
past
decade
portends
an
alarming
situation
for
employment
opportunities.
Even
the
limited
economic
growth
and
increased
foreign
investments
have
not
led
to
an
increase
in
employment
opportunities.
The
phenomenon
of
jobless
growth
which
has
been
afflicting
the
advanced
countries
of
the
West
now
haunts
India,
and
the
BJP-led
government
seeks
to
conceal
it
behind
the
gloss
of
campaign
management.
This
is
happening
because
more
money
is
invested
in
technology
and
mechanisation,
while
productivity
of
workers
is
coerced
upwards,
leading
to
a
situation
where
increases
in
output
do
not
indicate
increases
in
jobs.
Thus
a
5%
increase
in
agricultural
production
would
have
led
to
a
4.6%
increase
in
employment
in
agriculture
in
the
1980s
but
today
it
would
merely
lead
to
an
increment
of
0.05%!
A
similar,
though
not
so
steep,
decline
afflicts
the
whole
economy.
Despite
increases
in
agricultural
output,
employment
in
agriculture
is
stagnating.
Over
75%
of
the
country’s
unemployed
are
in
the
rural
areas.
Once
quantitative
restrictions
are
removed
under
the
WTO
regime
and
mammoth
agri-business
multinationals
set
about
taking
over
the
agricultural
sector
in
the
country,
using
modern
technology,
mechanisation
and
wholesale
changes
in
the
agricultural
pattern,
the
disastrous
effects
would
become
compounded.
A
parallel
‘jobless
growth’
appears
to
pervade
the
non-agricultural
sectors
too.
The
much-touted
BPO-based
jobs
like
call
centres
and
back-office
jobs
have
yielded
barely
2
lakh
jobs
in
the
country.
The
same
is
the
case
with
the
IT
sector
in
general.
In
the
small-scale
sector
a
study
has
estimated
that
there
will
be
a
36%
decline
in
employment
due
to
technology
intensive
investments.
It
is
under
the
aegis
of
the
BJP
dispensation
that
this
situation
has
arisen,
and
is
threatening
the
future
of
the
country.
Let
us
now
look
at
the
stark
reality
that
faces
nearly
40
crore
Indians
that
need
to
work
in
order
to
live
and
care
for
their
families.
¨
In
the
organised
sector,
which
provided
some
kind
of
decent
work
till
recently,
there
has
been
an
absolute
decline
in
employment
both
in
the
public
as
well
as
the
private
sectors.
Between
1998
and
2002
(under
BJP’s
‘ram-rajya’)
employment
in
public
sector
declined
from
194.18
lakhs
to
187.66
lakhs
(6.52
lakh
jobs
lost)
while
in
the
private
sector,
employment
declined
from
87.48
lakhs
to
85.66
lakhs
(1.82
lakh
jobs
lost).
The
BJP-led
government
has
publicly
announced
that
it
will
reduce
government
jobs
by
10%
in
the
next
five
years,
i.e.
throw
out
66,000
persons
every
year.
This
also
means
that
vacancies
are
not
being
filled
up
and
alternatives
like
outsourcing
or
contractualisation
are
being
sought.
Thus
there
are
1.57
lakh
vacancies
in
Group
C
and
D
in
the
Railways,
which
are
not
being
filled
up.
Recently,
when
20,000
posts
were
sought
to
be
filled
up,
the
Railways
received
75
lakh
applications!
¨
Till
December
1997,
2,084
sick
companies
were
registered
in
BIFR
involving
13
lakh
employees.
This
has
increased
to
4,748
companies
involving
24
lakh
employees
by
December
2003.
The
possibility
of
these
hapless
workers
getting
their
jobs
back
is
very
remote.
¨
If
this
is
the
condition
of
big
units
(which
come
under
BIFR),
what
would
be
the
situation
in
the
small-scale
sector?
In
the
past
few
years,
over
5
lakh
small
scale
units
have
been
forced
to
close
down
rendering
over
50
lakh
workers
jobless,
as
per
the
Small
Scale
Industries
Federation.
The
rate
of
growth
of
output
in
the
small-scale
sector
declined
from
8.16%
in
1999–2000
to
6.08%
in
2001–02,
while
employment
growth
declined
from
about
4%
to
3.5%.
¨
Loss
of
work
due
to
attacks
by
the
employers
have
also
shown
massive
increase
in
the
past
few
years.
While
lockouts
declared
by
employers
caused
a
loss
of
1
crore
mandays
in
1997,
such
losses
increased
to
18
crores
by
2001.
By
September
2003,
loss
of
mandays
due
to
lockouts
constituted
90%
of
total
loss
due
to
industrial
disputes.
One
of
the
most
astounding
claims
being
made
by
the
BJP-led
government
in
it’s
election
campaign
is
that
it
has
created
84
lakh
new
jobs
every
year,
thereby
coming
close
to
fulfilling
the
promise
of
creating
1
crore
jobs
per
year.
Where
has
this
magical
figure
come
from?
Employment
data
is
collected
and
made
available
by
the
National
Sample
Survey
Organisation
(NSSO)
which
conducts
large
sample
surveys
every
five
years.
Thus
the
last
(55th)
Round
of
survey
over
a
large
sample
was
held
in
1999–2000
and
the
next
one
is
due
in
2004–05.
Planning
Commission
and
all
other
authoritative
publications
like
the
annual
Economic
Survey
released
by
the
Government
of
India
base
their
analysis
on
these
large
surveys.
However,
since
the
BJP
rule
falls
precisely
between
the
large
surveys,
where
have
they
arrived
at
their
data
from?
The
NSSO
also
carries
out
smaller
surveys,
devoted
to
specific
issues,
in
the
intervening
years.
During
the
course
of
these
much
smaller
surveys,
apart
from
the
main
focus,
people
are
asked
to
report
on
their
‘usual
status’
or
‘current
daily
status’
of
employment.
It
is
from
these
survey
reports
that
the
house
of
cards
on
employment
has
been
built
by
the
BJP
government.
These
small
surveys
not
only
do
not
reflect
the
much
larger
reality
but
are
completely
unreliable
as
regards
questions
of
employment.
In
fact
it
is
the
first
time
that
Planning
Commission
is
basing
itself
on
these
reports
–
perhaps
to
suit
the
needs
of
the
BJP
government.
That
these
figures
are
questionable
is
shown
by
the
fact
that
they
run
contrary
to
output
or
production
data.
For
instance,
although
agricultural
production
declined
in
2000–01
and
2002–03
the
surveys
show
that
male
employment
grew
steadily
in
rural
India
to
the
tune
of
170
lakhs
in
three
years.
Even
during
the
most
severe
drought
in
a
decade,
employment
was
growing
according
to
these
small
surveys!
And
even
in
the
small
sample
surveys,
the
government
has
tried
to
deceive
the
people:
as
per
the
survey,
employment
has
actually
declined
by
90
lakhs
during
1
January
2002
and
1
October
2002.
However,
the
BJP
government
has
not
revealed
this
and
used
an
arbitrary
period
of
July–December
2002!
The
BJP
government
is
claiming
that
the
fantastic
growth
in
employment
has
come
about
due
to
additional
jobs
it
has
created
through
special
employment
programmes
and
infrastructure
development
projects
that
it
initiated.
The
blatant
falsehood
contained
in
this
stands
revealed
if
we
look
at
the
fate
of
these
special
programmes.
In
the
Sampurna
Grameen
Rozgar
Yojana
(SGRY),
only
about
73%
of
the
total
allocated
funds
were
utilised
and
employment
creation
was
52%
of
the
target
in
2001–02,
which
declined
to
about
50%
utilisation
in
the
next
year,
and
46%
of
the
target
of
employment
creation.
As
far
as
the
Swarnjayanti
Gram
Swarozgar
Yojana
(SGSY)
goes,
its
fund
allocation
itself
has
been
slashed
from
Rs
1105
crores
in
1999–2000
to
Rs
567.9
crores
in
2002–03,
while
utilisation
varied
between
about
48%
in
2002–03
and
75%
in
the
previous
year.
For
urban
areas,
there
was
the
Swarn
Jayanti
Shahri
Rozgar
Yojana
(SJSRY)
for
which
total
allocation
has
been
cut
from
about
Rs
158
crores
in
1998–99
to
Rs
38
crores
in
2001–02.
We
are
thus
confronted
with
a
sordid
tale
of
declining
allocation
and
measly
utilisation
of
funds
meant
for
job
creation
on
precisely
those
schemes
which
are
claimed
to
have
helped
create
those
mythical
jobs.
So,
how
are
all
the
people
surviving?
Firstly,
there
is
an
expanding
services
sector,
i.e.
non-agricultural,
non-production
type
of
work,
mainly
comprising
low-paid
jobs
with
no
security,
onerous
conditions
and
drudgery.
There
is
no
guarantee
of
year-round
work.
Secondly,
overlapping
with
this
is
informal
or
contractual
work
which
may
extend
into
agriculture
or
industry
also.
In
fact
the
government
is
planning
to
institutionalise
contract-based
‘fixed
term’
employment
through
legislation,
thereby
throwing
lakhs
of
workers
to
the
mercy
of
avaricious
employers.
The
BJP-led
government’s
policies
have
thus
forced
the
working
people
into
extremely
insecure,
often
dangerous
and
ill-paid
work,
while
closing
down
opportunities
of
decent
employment.
Marginalisation
and
casualisation
of
work
is
vividly
reflected
in
the
data
provided
by
Census
2001.
The
share
of
main
workers
has
declined
from
34%
of
the
workforce
in
1991
to
30%
in
2001
while
the
share
of
marginal
workers
has
increased
from
3.3
to
8.7%
in
the
same
period.
In
sum,
the
working
people
in
India
are
reeling
under
a
vicious
attack
by
the
BJP-led
government.
Regular
and
self-employment
are
stagnating
or
declining,
casual/irregular
work
and
underemployment
are
increasing.
The
bottom
of
the
economic
pyramid
is
being
crowded
with
more
and
more
people
getting
precipitated
downwards,
increasing
the
ranks
of
agricultural
labourers,
construction
workers,
and
other
unorganised
and
informal
sector
workers,
in
all
sectors.
Across
the
board,
workers
have
to
work
more
and
get
less
in
return.
The
rural-urban
divide
is
sharper,
with
less
regular
jobs
and
lower
wages
in
rural
occupations,
forcing
migrations.
On
the
other
hand,
within
different
regions
of
the
country,
uneven
development,
a
legacy
of
history,
is
further
exacerbated.
What
is
needed
today
is
a
policy
that
creates
sustainable
decent
employment
for
all,
with
honourable
wages
and
social
security.
And
for
that,
the
present
rulers
have
to
be
categorically
rejected
in
the
coming
elections.