Given the structure of the economy and demographic profile, the vulnerabilities of informal jobs must be addressed. Examine (200 Words)
Refer - The Hindu
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 4 years
KEY POINTS
· The abrupt announcement of the lockdown exposed the severe vulnerabilities of urban low-end informal jobs as the share of vulnerable employment is higher in India than that of the world or the South Asia region.
· Vulnerable employment is characterised by inadequate earnings, low productivity and difficult conditions of work that undermine the basic rights of workers. They are more likely to be informally employed and lack effective representation by trade unions.
Steps to take
· The present crisis calls for a multi-pronged strategy to tackle the issue of urban jobs. First, given the scale of urbanisation, the focus on urban employment generation programmes should be in coordination with local governments; this is key to ‘solving other problems faced by cities. Resource mobilisation could be enabled by the formation of local alliances, involving elected representatives, trade unions, entrepreneurs and community groups’.
· Second, a major local initiative would be to design and implement employment-intensive investment policies. Small and micro enterprises, the fulcrum of industrialisation, need extra support to balance the interests between labour and capital as neither have collective bargaining powers.
Invest in infrastructure
· However, much of these investments rarely benefit ‘poor urban dwellers as housing, roads, sewerage and water systems are inadequate for their needs. A labour-intensive approach to building municipal infrastructure can be a cost-effective alternative to capital intensive-approach as wage rates are low.
· Infrastructure investments would spur employment, generate earnings and contribute to small enterprise formation. Construction of low-cost housing is another activity that can be carried out using labour-intensive methods, while yielding substantial collateral benefits for urban dwellers’, as an ILO document establishes.
Only NREGA is not enough
· Further, under the current circumstances it is not valid to assume that the Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) or its substitutes can absorb a significant proportion of these workers.
· It is important that MGNREGA be expanded by both increasing the budgetary allocations and the guaranteed minimum number of days of work. At the same time, it is very idealistic to conclude that the entirety of the workforce, which has returned to the respective home States, will be accommodated by an expanded MGNREGA or by a close substitute.
