Jobs in India: Employment creation in new sectors not visible in eco data, says Jayant Sinha

Jobs in India: Amid criticism of the government for not creating enough jobs in the country, minister of state for civil aviation, Jayant Sinha, today said there has been an increase in job creation in last four years in new sectors but that is not been captured in various economic data. In the run-up to the 2014 general elections, prime minister Narendra Modi had promised one crore jobs a year. "The facts are telling us that we are not taking up all the jobs in the economy. The data is not picking up all the jobs that are being created in the new economy. Ola and Uber employs close of 10 lakh drivers and none of the data is picking that up," Sinha said at the India Today Conclave here today.

Debating Sinha's claim, former union minister Sachin Pilot said that new industries are not creating as many jobs as they project. He pointed out that at present a vast majority of educated young people are either under-employment or unemployed. "The problem is that there is not enough skill development going on. This country is now at a turning point where if we don?t take care of the young then this dividend is not only going to vanish it will be huge burden on the economy," Pilot, who is currently Congress president in Rajasthan said.

In fact, the country is seeing its highest level of unemployment in the last 17 months, according to Centre for Policy Alternatives chairman Mohan Guruswamy.

He said the government leads growth in this country through capital expenditure but that is not happening. It is been dropping as a percentage of GDP every year. Only 9 per cent of the budget today is spent on capital expenditure and if this doesn't go up to 20-30 per cent levels, you cannot get jobs growth, even if there is sectoral growth.

Kotak Mahindra Bank''s managing director, Uday Kotak, believes "a deep routed correction is required" in skilling and the education system. "Private sector has to responsibly focus on creating these jobs. It is not the job of government alone," Kotak said.

Agreeing to Kotak on the role of private sector in jobs creation, Pilot said it is the government's responsibility to create a conducive environment for investments to come into the country.

"I agree with what Uday Kotak said...I think the private sector has a far better role in creating jobs like in any other large country. It's the small and medium scale enterprise which create jobs and not the top 100 companies in any country," Pilot said.

"But how will investment takes place. You have to have confidence and you cannot have a system where the judiciary and the law is second to the strong voice of political parties," he added.

Therefore, it is the responsibility of the political class, especially the one with the ruling dispensation, to create a positive and conducive ecosystem where money can come in, a stable growth is seen and a normal tax regime is there so people are confident that their money is safe, there is jurisprudence and there will be job creation in the long run.

"That will only happen if people take responsibility. Numbers, anecdotes, jumlas and slogans will not help. I have heard Skill India, Stand up India, Digital India, Yoga India...There are 15 slogans but four years later what we have to show for ourselves," Pilot said.

Sinha, however, said there is a difference in NDA's thinking on government's role in creating jobs from that of the previous government. "As far as we are concerned, it's Uday (Kotak- private sector player) who will create the jobs and not Sachin (the government). It is the private sector that will create the bulk of jobs and will create good jobs. Our focus as the government is to put in place the enabling environment and the facilitative policies," Sinha said.

He said the government is creating framework, rules and regulations which are unleashing the entrepreneurial energies of India and thats where the goods jobs are going to be created.

Niti Aayog''s former vice chairman Arvind Panagariya slammed the critics for their claims of jobless growth.

"This talk of jobless growth is nonsense. The real problem we have is that of under-employment rather than unemployment. Problem is really that people are not being employed at their full productivity potential. That is where the real action is required," he said.