The Hindu Business Line : Unemployment is growing: Bardhan

Chennai June 1 Unemployment is growing even as the economy grows at 9 per cent plus and employment in organised sector is coming down, said Mr A. B. Bardhan, General Secretary, the Communist Party of India.

He was speaking on `Some trends in socio-economic development in India' at the Second Annual Tarakeswar Chakraborti Memorial Endowment Lecture, sponsored by the All-India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) in association with the University of Madras.

Organised sector

Quoting from an Assocham study in 2006, for the period 1997-2003, he said employment in the organised sector declined by 4.14 per cent even though GDP grew by an average of 5.2 per cent in that period. In absolute terms, employment came down from about 281 lakh to 270 lakh in 2003. The share of worker wages and salaries in the total cost of production had also declined sharply revealing growing exploitation of workers, he said.

Mr Bardhan was critical of special economic zones being touted as an important instrument of development policy. He said that these have become a means to grab large tracts of land and gain large packages of concessions in the form of tax and legal exemptions.

He also attacked the introduction of foreign direct investment in retail trade, arguing that while it may provide employment to a few hundred people, it would wipe out thousands of retailers and deprive them of their livelihood.

Mr Bardhan said, "The familiar corner shop will disappear from the scene and the independent retailer will end up either as low paid employee in malls and giant stores or join the ranks of unemployed."

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