Rahul Gandhi keeps telling us that there are no jobs in the country. As we know Rahul Gandhi has limited understanding of economics, so we cannot really blame him. Contrary to his claims, data from government and private organizations clearly indicate that the number of jobs in the country is growing exponentially.
The Nikkei Services Purchasing Managers Index rose from March’s 50.2 to 51.4 in April. According to the survey report, “This signaled a faster expansion in output at Indian service firms than in the prior month,” This reflects the improvements on the demand side of the economy.
“India’s overall economy also saw price pressures moderating further, with input and output charge inflation registering at the slowest since September 2017 and June 2017, respectively. The service economy continued to recover further from February’s temporary decline,” said Aashna Dodhia, who is Economist at IHS Markit and author of the report.
The opposition can keep ranting about unemployment but this survey shows that there is nothing substantial in this accusation. Congress never really bases its claims on facts and data. Its economic policies like MNREGA are prime examples of how badly it failed on the front of economic policymaking. Congress brought this policy to reduce unemployment, while all it could achieve was nothing but massive leakage of funds. As NITI Aayog chairman rightly said, “Congress has more than 60 years of experience in loot and plunder”.
Manish Sabharwal, who is one most appreciated employment economists in the world, correctly said that “Wages, not jobs, are the main problem for India”. India has more formal as well as informal jobs than we think.
Many people who are doing petty informal jobs in cities register themselves as farmer in official documents. He had outlined that to create more jobs we need land, labor and education reforms. He asked how United Kingdom, a small country of 6.5 Crore people has more GDP than a country of 125 Crore people like India. The PM Modi government is working on land, labor and education reforms consistently.
India’s labor laws are extremely outdated. These outdated labor laws which are a legacy of India’s socialist policies during previous regimes make hiring of workers a very tough task for the companies. BJP government is trying to pass the “Code on Wages Bill, 2017”, which has passed in Lok Sabha but could not be passed in Rajya Sabha due to Congress’s noncompliance during the Budget session. The bill is expected to pass in Monsoon session, provided the Congress cooperate with the government, rather than making false accusations and pointing fingers at one of the first governments in decades to actually take steps in dealing with the issue.
India needs land reforms to spur economic growth of the country. The PM Modi led government proposed amendments to the Land Acquisition Bill 2016, but Congress has in the past blocked these amendments too. Economic policies of previous Congress governments are responsible for the under-productivity that India is suffering today. The current government is doing all it can to make reforms in the areas of labour, education and land to reverse the damage. However, there is only so much a single party can do in a democracy where a majority is needed in both houses of parliament to make such brave reform bills pass.