India’s job crisis

This refers to ‘A job half-done’(March 29). The recent India Employment Report released by the ILO, gives a much needed broad-brush picture of India’s employment challenge. Unemployment is weighing India down, with the country’s youth accounting for almost 83 per cent of the unemployment workforce.

Unfortunately, it is sad story that youth in the world’s most populous nation and also the fastest-growing economy are ignored. It is a sorry state of affairs that PhDs applied for the post of peon in UP where Class V was the eligibility criterion.

Robust growth in manufacturing, services and construction sectors should guide stakeholders to optimally use the skills of India’s educated youth. The government programmes have done little to create jobs.

Gregory Fernandes

Mumbai

This refers to the edit “A job half-done” (March 29). ILO’s India Employment Report 2024 highlighting anomalies in the employment pattern indicates that unemployment is no longer just a political issue but a serious social problem also needing a strategic approach.

When there are about 7-8 million new entrants in the job market, the chances of more job creation are shrinking given the increasing application of AI-assisted labour-saving technology like higher capital intensity in what was earlier a labour-intensive manufacturing industry. With more youth going for higher education in a tight labour market and need for a technology-savvy profile the skill-job mismatch is on the increase as the job distribution showed.

Women’s employment prospects looking bleak. with self-employed women workers going up from 53.2 per cent in 2019 to 62 per cent in 2022, but many are unpaid.

YG Chouksey

Pune

Sugar economy

This refers to ‘Sugar millers seek relief’ (March 29). The sugarcane crop traverses through lot of hardships in its lifecycle right from its plantation till it reaches the sugar mills. The Centre’s announcement to raise the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) by 8 per cent from October 2024 is a welcome move.

The hike will impact sugarcane mills in settling the dues to the sugarcane growers. MSP for sugarcane must also be raised.

The hike will also boost production of ethanol which helps to achieve the usage of 20 per cent of ethanol blended petrol by 2025.

RV Baskaran

Chennai

Election tourism

The report ‘India’s dance of democracy to attract 25,000 tourists’ (March 29) made for interesting reading. India is the largest democracy in the world.

Hence, it draws people from some nations across the world to have a first-hand information of political campaigning in the country.

From the prism of economics, India will get invaluable foreign exchange because of foreign tourism.

Of course, tourists will be a witness to high decibel political campaigning by parties in sweltering summer.

This will be a great political education for them, though they may find it hard to understand the political speeches without the help of translators.

Be that as it may, they will not be aware of ‘ the distribution of cash, gifts, etc’ by some contestants to the people on the sly to garner votes. India is unique in many respects, isn’t it?

S Ramakrishnasayee

Chennai

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