Fairness and dignity in livelihoods: 

Fairness and dignity in livelihoods: 

Context:

• The government must focus on policies that will generate more dignified and sustainable livelihoods than the Indian economy is producing at present.

Explanation:

• All surveys of small enterprises in India, who are the largest generators of employment, have revealed that the principal constraints on their growth are obtaining finance, problems of dealing with bureaucracy, and access to markets.
• They must overcome these constraints and grow their enterprises before they hire more workers.
• While some economists and short-sighted businesspersons are taunting the government to get tough and change labour laws to make it easier for employers to fire their employees.
• This will not create more dignified and better paying livelihoods around the country, which should be the government’s goal.
• Hardline labour reformers insist employers need more flexibility or they will not employ more people.
• But opponents of this ideology concede the need for flexibility, but are adamant that workers must be treated fairly.

NITI Ayog’s report:

• A report to improve India’s employment data by NITI Aayog has a diagram of India’s industrial pyramid.
• A total of 69.5% of workers are employed by firms that employ fewer than five workers, and 21.2% by firms employing more than nine workers.
• But only 9.3% of workers are in firms with six to nine workers.
• Therefore, the crimp in the shape of the pyramid is when firms are very small, employing much less than 100 persons, where the industrial disputes act does not apply.

Suggestions:

• A systems’ analysis reveals that to create conditions for sustainable growth of incomes and jobs, the government should focus on the creation of effective social security systems (including life-long learning and re-skilling systems) rather than wasting its political capital on making it easier for employers to fire workers.
• The Union government must focus on policies that will generate more dignified and sustainable livelihoods than the Indian economy is presently producing.
• While ensuring employers have the flexibility they need, Indian laws must ensure fair treatment of all workers must be more effective than they are.
• Constraints on the formation and growth of small enterprises must be reduced.
• Social security must be provided in various forms, by skilling and retraining, health insurance, pensions, and other means, to create the conditions required for more fairness with flexibility.