4 Measures Indian Government Has Taken To Create Jobs

India is hurtling towards a job crisis. A United Nations data suggests that nearly 17.8 million people are unemployed in the country. The figures are likely to spiral out of control as half the country’s population is under the age of 25 and is yet to enter the job market. The government in recent months has unrolled a raft of projects, which, in theory, should create more jobs.

Measures To Tackle Growing Unemployment

Bank Recapitalisation

The Indian government last week announced its decision to infuse Rs 2.11 lakh crore worth of capital in public sector banks. This is being done to write off the heaps of toxic loans that have wracked public sector banks in recent years. The airbrushing of banks’ liabilities is likely to bolster its lending capacity, which would result in more loans being offered to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).Granting more loans would automatically create more jobs as SMEs generally borrow money to expand its operations. Further, public sector banks play a crucial role in the implementation of MUDRA scheme, which was introduced in 2016. These loans are given to non-farm SMEs. The government claims that MUDRA scheme has been instrumental in creating 5.5 crore jobs so far. Recapitalising public sector banks would help banks offer more credit to SMEs under this scheme,according to a State Bank of India research report.

Railways

The Indian Railways plans to spend Rs. 9.75 lakh crore over the next five years to refurbish and upgrade its infrastructure. The government says the investment roadmap is likely to push domestic manufacturing. The escalated manufacturing levels will create one million jobs over the next five years.

Bharatmala

The ambitious Bharatmala project, which aims to develop over 83,000 kilometres of roads over the next five years, is another project that is likely to tackle the unemployment crisis head-on. The government claims the Rs 7 lakh crore project is set to create 100 million man-days of jobs and 22 million permanent jobs by 2022.

Sagarmala

India has a coastline of 7,500 kilometers. A significant part of our coastline is not used for any economic activity. The 12 lakh crore Sagarmala project is expected to set up new ports across India's eastern and western seaboards. This project has the potential to create 1 crore jobsin the next four to five years, according to the government.

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