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Job Opportunities Scarce: India's New Government Faces Challenge

Job opportunities are scant in India and the election results have proven that "Modi's guarantee" is no longer enough. The people of India want stronger policies on employment and agriculture.

By Biswajit Dhar, 360info
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Job Opportunities Scarce

Job opportunities are scant, and more than 90 percent of the workforce is in the informal economy | Phuong Nguyen/Pixabay | Credits CC0

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Job opportunities in India are scant, and more than 90 percent of the workforce is in the informal economy.

For the past decade, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) enjoyed an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s parliament. This time, it has fallen well short of that mark. Its diminished numbers likely reflect its failure over its previous terms to address the economic distress of a sizable section of society, particularly young people and farmers.

The next government in New Delhi must change its approach towards increasing employment, especially youth employment, by making direct interventions. The most effective starting point for such a process would be adopting a National Employment Policy that was on the fringes of policy discussions when the Congress-led government was in power before 2014. By 2022, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government said in parliament that there was no plan to develop a National Employment Policy.

The most enduring feature of India’s labour market is the high level of informality. More than 90 percent of the workforce is in the informal economy. It needs a holistic look to allow everyone to participate in talks on concrete measures that can be taken to create jobs and provide social security to workers. Alongside this, the government must recalibrate the incentives extended to the private sector, linking these to their ability to create jobs.

Job Opportunities are Scant

Possibly the mo

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