India has been an entrepreneurial and business-oriented nation. Megasthenes, the ambassador of Greek Emperor Seleucus, who came to the Rajya Sabha of Emperor Chandragupta Maurya, has mentioned seven classes of Indian society in his book 'Indica'. Most of them belonged to intellectuals, farmers, traders, artisans and soldiers.
Very few people were servants and employed. A job was considered inferior because of its dependency or slavery. Economic advisor Angus Maddison has also confirmed this in the history of the world economy, but the conditions have completely changed in India, which became independent after centuries of slavery. Today, people prefer the slavery of a job with salary security than a business venture with financial insecurity.
Especially government jobs which are considered the best because of job security and pension. Business enterprise is viewed as a profit-seeking activity accompanied by economic insecurity. A major reason for this is our colonial-era education system that focuses on rote learning rather than providing entrepreneurship, creativity and new skills and experiences. This frees the educated graduates from enterprise, labor and research and becomes capable of doing clerical or mechanical work. Their usefulness is decreasing as machines can perform many tasks with greater efficiency and speed due to the development of artificial intelligence (AI). That is why Gandhiji linked education to labor in his 'new training'.
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The report of the committee headed by educationist Anil Sadgopal said that linking education with work is like linking children with society. This inculcates dedication towards work and also gives them useful knowledge. To give practical shape to this balance of labor and intellectuality, an experimental college was also opened in Netrahat near Ranchi, but despite its success, it could not be spread throughout the country. The result is in front of everyone.
It can be debated that the unemployment rate among educated people in the age group of 21-30 is the highest in the country, but the reality is that between 50 lakh and more graduates have applied for about 60 thousand jobs of constables in Uttar Pradesh. Applied and did. Couldn't even get seats in trains to appear in the exam.
It is also no secret how lakhs of graduates go to coaching institutes in cities like Kota and Pune for several years to prepare for a handful of civil services. All this is happening because every year in India, on an average, about one crore students, including 1.5 lakh engineers, become graduates. According to the merit survey, only 25 per cent of MBA graduates, 20 per cent of engineers and only 10 per cent of general graduates are employable. Others either have to be retrained or are given work for which they are not mentally prepared. The social thinking regarding work and business is so negative that even if a leader cites their example for employment, it would be laughable.
Competition in the market for business enterprises and jobs is also becoming tougher. Due to the problem of small farming, more than 10 crore farmers are looking for other jobs. The ancestral tradition of handicrafts and handicrafts has either broken or not survived in the face of mechanized goods. All of them need training, capital and market for employment. That is why the issue of unemployment becomes a topic of discussion in every election. In this general election too, Congress has announced 30 lakh government jobs, an allowance of Rs 1 lakh per year to every graduate and diploma holder and providing training and startup funds to the youth at the district level, named as Youth Justice Guarantee. Other parties including BJP will make similar announcements in the coming days, but hardly anyone will talk about the fundamental solution to the problem by making the education system business-oriented and research-oriented.
The most interesting thing is that in India employment is considered to mean job. Whenever any party talks about employment, it only talks about increasing or filling government jobs. There is less talk of creating employment by expanding industries and businesses.
This is not the case in Europe, America and Japan. Instead of increasing government jobs, the parties talk about saving by reducing costs and creating employment by promoting industries with the money saved. Government jobs are not seen as employment but as employment tax because their salaries are paid from tax money. Till date no country has been able to progress in terms of jobs. Progress comes only through industry. Therefore, parties in developed countries talk about reducing government expenditure and increasing income by expanding industries.
Only industry and business can create real employment. They also provide employment and taxes. Take Congress's announcement of providing 30 lakh government jobs. At present, the number of central government employees is around 33 lakh, on whose salaries the expenditure is Rs 3.25 lakh crore. If 30 lakh more are added to these, then the expenditure on salaries will increase by another Rs 3 lakh crore.
Due to this, the entire economy will collapse due to which the country will not be able to survive for many decades. If this money is spent on promoting industries, employment can increase and tax revenue can also increase. This situation will be economically disastrous.
This is because money will come into the government treasury faster and the health of the economy will improve rapidly due to increase in employment. Providing free electricity to people without work allowance and filling government jobs is not social justice but unproductive expenditure in its name.
The responsibility of the government is to invest the labor force in productive activities that will lead to the growth of the economy. No unproductive wasteful expenditure for votes. Voters will have to understand this and become visionary thinkers and give priority to financially responsible representatives in elections.