Wednesday 6 June 2012

Include Eighth and Tenth pass in Uttarakhand Government’s New Unemployment allowance! No Way


Written by Anil Singh
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Include Eighth and Tenth pass in Uttarakhand Government’s New Unemployment allowance! No Way.

Yes there's no valid reason to do that.

There are above Six Lakh unemployed Youths in the State. Realistically speaking, committing oneself to give unemployment allowance to all those unemployed will be an impractical task. Giving an allowance of Rs 500 per month to 6 Lakh unemployed people, would mean Rs 30 crore a month and Rs 360 crore. Uttarakhand definitely doesn't have that kind of money.

Hence the Uttarakhand Government's decision to keep the class 8th and 10th pass from its ambit is quite reasonable. Equally reasonable is keeping above 35 out of the reckoning.

But one thing which appears wrong is: keeping out those unemployed Youths, who have registered themselves in Employment exchanges after 2009.

If one looks at the unemployment scenario in the state, it's this group (who registered themselves post 2009) which needs the allowance more than anyone. The fact that majority of those who registered themselves after 2009, will have best chances to be employed (courtesy their age); keeping them out of the exercise fails the initiative.

Below are my suggestions wrt an ideal Uttarakhand Government’s Unemployment allowance Policy:

1) Employability in private Sector should strictly be considered as Employment.

2) Unemployment allowance should be Time Bound. There's not use giving a person unemployment allowance if he fails to get employed after 3 years of passing out of college or school.

3) Instead of Registering unemployment in a broad manner, registration should be under Clear Groups. For instance, if a person registers himself/herself after class 12th, he/she should be considered for jobs requiring class 12th eligibility for the next five years. The employment allowance should be given for 3 out of five years. If the person fails to get employed in the first three years, then for 4th and 5th year, he/she should not be given allowance. This will make the person, contemplate his/her future course of action, Whether to study further or seriously look for a job which is in conformance to his/her current education.

The Same criteria should be applied for those who register themselves after graduations. Give allowance for two years after graduation. If the person fails to get employed in these two years then, stop allowance in their year, and allow him/her to take a decision on future course of action.

4) Employment Exchange Registration as a means to be able to apply for State Service Exams should be stopped. Rather than saving jobs for Domiciles, Employability should be a criteria.

5) Employment Exchanges should become "job exchanges for the unemployed" and not just Unemployed Registering Agencies. The job collection of such exchanges should have all sorts of jobs: Temporary, permanent, for less educated and the highly educated. Employment Exchanges should work hard to employ those registered within a time bound manner.

6) A Separate Mechanism be devised for School drop-outs and above 35 year old unemployed persons.

For such people, "Job oriented unemployment allowance is NOT practical", instead, the Government should try to provide them work. This work could be menial work (labour work at road sites, digging trenches etc.). The model should be " To be Paid for the work you Do".

Encouraging Entrepreneurship among such people can be an option as well.

Think Practically:

Call it a sad situation, but in our country every issue becomes political. And that affects the thinking process of the people.

In no country, all people become officers or get Rich. People grow and achieve in their lives based on their education, hard work and aptitude.

But in India, this wisdom has not percolated among the people. Irrespective of their education, people don't want to do certain jobs (Caste System gets blame for this too). And that is the real problem. If a person has not studied beyond class 8, then he/she should be ready to do any legal job the society or state has to offer. No one will give a Office Job to such such individual.

Another thing which is quite underestimated in our country, is the Aptitude (intelligence). One clear pointer to this aptitude is the Educational or Professional performance. In a country of 120 crore people, a person who passes his/her masters degree with 70 percent marks is bound to have much better employability than a person who get 38 percent.

In short, it's high time, the country starts valuing education and start 'linking Employability with better education, grades and aptitude'.

If we fail to understand this, then Employment remains a political issuse. Which it is clearly NOT.
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