The Hindu Business Line : How inflation hits hard the pensioners

Story so far: During a stroll, one night, I find a carrom game going on in a by-lane. The boys around the board are familiar neighbourhood faces. For, with no gainful employment, despite education, one could always find them in teashops and libraries, on bikes and in street corners. There should be a way to tap the skills of the unemployed youths, I feel.

Episode 160

Last week, I had left you at the carrom board. There have been enthusiastic responses on how we can tap the skills of the unemployed youths. "I am glad that you have picked up an issue which is highly relevant to developing human resources," begins a mail from Pooja Gianchandani of CII (Confederation of Indian Industry, www.ciionline.org). "With the kind of opportunity that India has in the international job market, skills development is the need of the hour. This would not only prepare the Indian economy for the vast challenges it is faces, but also provide the young an opportunity to be employable and have marketable skills."

Pooja informs that CII has launched an initiative for skills development, through which the industry body plans to provide the young in the country with skills that would translate into employment. "Skills would be standardised and certified by professional agencies with total transparency. The project reaches out, not only to the educated but also to the uneducated, `rust collar workers' who are more prone to exploitation," says Pooja. Exciting information!

"I would like to participate in your blog column. Please let me know how," asks a mail from V. Ramasamy. `How' is simple. You need to click the blog link or type the URL, as much as you'd type www.google.com. Each post or entry in the blog has a `comment' link, by clicking which you can add your comment and thus participate in the discussion. If that seems tough, you can always send a mail to the column's id.

"I appreciate your concern for society. As a person closely associated with providing employment to unemployed youth through life insurance agency over the past 20 years, I am touched by this topic," writes R. Thesinghrajan, Sr. Development Officer, LIC, Ooty. "The educated youth of our country have tremendous skills. But what is lacking is the confidence to take risk. May be, because of the educational system, they wait for the opportunities to come to them. In our insurance industry, many of the successful agents were once unemployed, and without much education. Amazing marketing skills acquired over the years have transformed such people; and many have ventured into other businesses too." Good to hear!

Thesinghrajan says that many women have become successful in insurance-selling, a domain which was once considered to belong to men. "Let us take efforts to empower the unemployed educated youth through SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities & Threats) analysis. Career guidance seminars that can be organised by voluntary organisations with motivational talks would do a world of good to these youngsters. Low self-esteem and lack of confidence are detrimental to the future of the youth. As the saying goes, we may not offer a great future for the youth, but we can prepare them for the future." Pragmatic insights!

"If the educated unemployed youths, instead of indulging in useless roadside activities, supplement their skills with determination and hard work, they can get into profitable employment in India where there are currently immense job opportunities in the wake of globalisation," feels P. V. Sudhakar Rao, Ongole. "In schools and colleges regular lessons should be supplemented with lessons on philosophy, personality development, yoga and meditation." A way of preparing them for the future, perhaps.

"Let's not see what others or the government can do for these educated unemployed and capable youths, but what the youths can do for themselves," says Anusha Venkataraman. "There are banks to give loans, and schemes to motivate self-employment. The educated unemployed should try to make full use of these facilities. What is required for the unemployed youths is the self-drive. They should be willing to try out jobs that have nothing to do with their degree and take up jobs that do not provide a pay package that is to their expectations. If you do not get proper opportunities, then it is up to you to create them. I know many software freshers who have come together to create new software. They earn by marketing it. These ventures not only give them experience and confidence but are of immense value when they look for a permanent job." Emphatic mail. Would like to contact one such group!

Sriram Kannan's mail says, "With the growth pace with which India is marching ahead, most business leaders and thinkers have expressed their views that one of the main drivers that remains and will remain a competitive advantage to India over other developing countries is the strength of its young population. Given this view, it would really be a boost for the growth engine if the skills of the educated unemployed youths are tapped to the maximum." For all those who drop out of the job race and have been left stranded in their career path, it would be wise if they look at harnessing the unique individual skill that they have, advises Sriram.

On how to tap the skill of the unemployed youths, C. Maruthi Kumari of Salem has many suggestions. "The service sector is growing. And the need for services is growing in geometric progression. Youths should make use of this," exhorts Maruthi. Catch up with her mail on the blog.

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Comments on previous episodes

Reacting to an earlier episode on Singur farmers, Surendran Valoth observes that massive projects should be allowed to go ahead.

Indian Overseas Bank Officers' Association (IOBOA) has written an informative mail about the philanthropic activities undertaken by the trade union body.

And on the episode about knowledge economy, there are mails from Devisetty Manojna from Salem, Krithivasan, Rajesh and Maruthi Kumari. All these views are on the blog.

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Woes of the senior citizens

It is not often that I visit the pharmacy, which is good, in a way. Yet, I had to go to a drug-store nearby a few days ago, to buy lozenges for my sore throat. At the entrance, I saw an old couple who stay in the block adjacent to mine. "Hi," said grandpa, as he is known. And the grandma was anxious to know what brought me to buy medicines. We three spent some time talking about work and weather, traffic and TV, and soon our discussion veered towards microeconomics.

"Our interest income is not enough these days!" said grandpa, shaking his head ruefully. And his wife chipped in: "Expenses keep increasing, even for our bare minimum needs..." I wanted to ask them if they were curtailing their medicines on account of price increases, which I suspected could well be the case. But before I could manage to take the topic forward, they said `bye', amazingly cheerfully, and slowly moved away. The thought that kept coming back to me thereafter was about the adverse impact of inflation on pensioners who depend on interest receipts. Send in your thoughts by Friday.

SWATI_CA@HOTMAIL.COM

Blog at: http://Swati-CA.blogspot.com