The Hindu Business Line : Unemployment: Specific policy intervention planned

Mumbai, Dec. 13 The Union Government will resort to specific policy intervention for districts with chronic unemployment and industrial underdevelopment, said Dr Ashwani Kumar, Minister of State in the Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

Dr Kumar told Business Line that the data on these districts is being collated by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. It would be based on 16 reports of Planning Commission, some of which date back to 1960’s, he said.

He said that causes of unemployment and industrial underdevelopment vary from districts to districts. There would be intervention from the government to solve problems like law and order, connectivity, availability of raw material and power supply, Dr Kumar said.

Out of the total 700 districts about 170 are acutely underdeveloped, off which 70 per cent are in the eastern part of the country.

Dr Kumar added that the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme and Bharat Nirman initiative would be focussed in these districts. Stress would be on developing textiles, leather and food processing industry in these districts, he said.

Dr Kumar said that the hardening of the rupee and interest rates has hurt exports and industrial production. A major chunk of the portability is threatened. Therefore by March 2008, the government would consider to abolish duties or drastic reduction in duties on imported material, which are used for manufacturing export items, he said.

“We need blue collar jobs and industrial development in the hinterland. All of which will come from industrial and manufacturing activity. It also needs skill up gradation. Of the global population below 24 years of age about 20 per cent stays in India but majority of them are unemployable. To counter this problem the government is coming up with 1500 centres of excellence for vocational training,” Dr Kumar said.

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