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C.J. Punnathara

Kochi , Dec. 29

THERE has been a sharp fall in employment generation since 1993-94, despite the sustained and accelerated growth in the Indian economy.

"The employment growth fell to 1.07 per cent per annum between 1993-94 and 1999-2000 from 2.7 per cent per annum between 1982-83 and 1993-94, in spite of acceleration in GDP growth," according to the Institute of Small Enterprise and Development. The institute said that there is a big challenge before the nation, the policy makers, entrepreneurs and people, asking for a remedial action.

The institute was quoting from the report of the Special Group on Targeting Ten Million Employment Opportunities per year, under the Chairmanship of Dr S.P. Gupta, Member Planning Commission. The Vision 2020 Document of the Planning Commission has also underscored the findings of the Gupta Special Group report.

"Considering the graveness of the employment problem, the Government of India is planning to make an objective assessment of the achievements of employment generation, as a result of various programmes and policies," said Dr P.M. Mathew, Director of the institute. This is based on the fact that there is not adequate objective monitoring of employment benefits by any of the concerned Ministries today.

The current assessments are based on norms used to convert certain key indicators such as programme outlays into employment opportunities. The programmes need to be addressed to the needs of the beneficiaries; besides the beneficiaries should make use of such programmes. In addition, the programmes need to be related to the process of Panchayati Raj, Dr Mathew said.

It is in this context that the Government of India has entrusted the institute with the task of conducting a national assessment of the more recent trends in employment generation in rural industries sector. The objective of the study is to examine the process of employment generation in rural industries sector and its various sub-sectors and to identify key areas of employment potential.

The national study is expected to review the trends in employment generation, as also the status of programme implementation in the country.

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