Project Report on Rural Unemployment in India

A project report on rural unemployment in India. This report will help you to learn about:- 1. Introduction to Rural Unemployment 2. Causes of Rural Unemployment 3. Remedial Measures 4. Steps to Solve the Problem 5. Government Policy Measures.

Contents:

1. Project Report on the Introduction to Rural Unemployment
2. Project Report on the Causes of Rural Unemployment
3. Project Report on the Remedial Measures
4. Project Report on the Steps to Solve the Problem
5. Project Report on the Government Policy Measures

---

Project Report # 1. Introduction to Rural Unemployment:

In a common sense, unemployment is a situation characterized when any one is not gainfully employed in a productive activity. It means that an unemployed person is one who is seeking any work for wages but is unable to find any job suited to his capacity. From this view one can easily make an idea of voluntarily and involuntarily unemployed.

Obviously, in an economy, there is a section of working population who is not interested in any gainful job and still others are interested in employment at wage rates higher than those prevailing in the labour market.

Prof. Keynes calls this type of labour force as voluntarily unemployed. According to him, involuntarily unemployment refers to a situation in which people are ready to accept work at prevailing wage rate but fail to get the same wage.

“Various experts have undertaken studies regarding the period of unemployment in different parts of the country which showed that enforced unemployment lasts on an average from 150 to 270 days in a years. For example, income of the South Indian villages, the cultivators have little or no work on the field for three months in the year at a stretch. In Tamil Nadu, the cultivators find employment only for about 6 months, while in Bengal for about three to four months in a year. Jute growers were idle for 9 months while the paddy growers for 7½ months. In Oudh, the cultivator got employment from 150 to 20o days. In the submontane districts of U. P. the cultivator was engaged for 110 days’ full labour and 188 days’ complete leisure. In the Bombay Deccan, the cultivator had work only for 180 to 190 days. In the Punjab, the cultivators had work for 160 to 278 days. In Kerala the agricultural labourer finds employment only for 160 to 240 days; while in Delhi villages there was no work for more than 5 months.”

According to the Agricultural Labour Enquiry Committee Report, “the extent of under-employment is on the average, 82 days of unemployment in a year for 84 per cent of agricultural labours who have some employment during the year.”

---

Project Report # 2. Causes of Rural Unemployment:

In this connection, the Fourth 5-years Plan observed: “In many parts of the country, there is heavy pressure of population on land. The agricultural economy is unable to provide continuous work enough the year. The slack agricultural season frequently extends from 3 to 6 months. The growth of population, the pace at which non-agricultural activities are developing within and outside the rural economy and greater resort by owners of land to personal cultivation have tended to increase the strains of poverty for cultivators with marginal holdings and large numbers of landless agricultural workers. Even favourably situated areas show a considerable surplus of manpower. The problem presented by chronic underemployment on the part of large numbers of landless agricultural workers is of a long term character. Very low wage levels and low levels of productivity are but symptoms of this problem.”

“From this observation we may conclude that, unemployment and under­employment in rural areas has been due to:

(i) The rapid growth in population.

(ii) The non-availability of subsidiary occupation in the rural areas.

(iii) The inadequate development of non-agricultural sector from the point of view of employment.

(iv) Small holdings which keep the cultivators and landless labourers busy only for a part time. This is accentuated by the unevenness in distribution of holdings.

(v) the decay of the cottage industries.

(vi) unremunerated nature of the agricultural economy, due to rural indebtedness, typical pattern of village life, illiteracy etc.

(vii) Seasonal nature of agricultural operations causing idleness among the agriculturists.

(viii) Scarcity of capital characterised by poor overheads and equipment’s and inadequacy of working capital.

(ix) Unwillingness of the villagers to move out and leave the pastoral surrounding to take up employment elsewhere.

(x) Existence of the joint family system which is an. unofficial agency for providing relief to the unemployed.

(xi) Prevalence of self-employment on a large scale.

(xii) Lack of occupational mobility due to social institutions, particularly the caste system.

(xiii) Rudimentary want structure, limited horizons and lack of aspirations which enables the farmer to be satisfied with a very low level of income.”

---

Project Report # 3. Remedial Measures for Creating Rural Employment:

Agriculture even now is a depressed industry and as such full employment is not possible in agriculture. The Planning Commission observes, “Taking a broad view, an increase in agricultural production would lead to a reduction in under-employment rather than to the creation of new jobs in the rural areas. The increase in industrial production does not lead to a proportionate growth of opportunities for employment because most of the new process used in large-scale industries are based on high productivity techniques…In this situation, it would take a good deal of title to create conditions of satisfactory full employment.”

In the words of the Planning Commission, “the remedy would be a continuing expansion of the national economies at a high rate to create adequate employment opportunity in the urban areas and to provide conditions for a continuing growth of agricultural production which would reduce under-employment and offer greater opportunities of work for landless labourer and similar occupational groups. Sustained programmes over a period of years for the rapid development of agriculture and expansion of modern industries and the diversification and strengthening of the rural economic structure will be the only solution to the problem of unemployment.”

Since increase in farm production depends on better, higher and also a rational level of inputs and investment in agriculture and techniques adopted, more attention should be paid to these aspects. Schemes for increasing agricultural production are closely bound up with improvement in animal husbandry, farming and development of fisheries. All these should find increasing share of development expenditure.

“For the balanced regional development decentralisation of industries should be aimed at by substantial allocation of infrastructure investment in semi-urban and rural areas, external economies and supporting financial and other services, and the setting up of industrial estates in rural areas after rapid electrification of such areas Such a kind of investment would easily lead to substantial economies in such overhead investments because of relatively low cost of transportation, water supply, land, etc., in smaller communities.”

Surplus labour should be put to such capital formative activities which are labour intensive and require “a minimum draft on equipment and materials, and in cases of shore gestation periods and the possibility of promoting wide extension of their activities over the whole countries.” Such labour power may conveniently be utilised for the extension of afforestation and in areas for canal, and road construction, land reclamation, bunding, terracing, surface drainage, minor irrigation projects etc.

“Means of transport should be properly developed especially in the remote areas, forested regions, and mining areas so that surplus labour could find relief in going over to these areas for livelihood. Emigration from thickly populated parts to newly reclaimed, irrigated and colonized regions should be undertaken with greater intensity.”

The Planning Commission rightly observes that “A permanent solution can only be achieved through the development of a system of scientific, diversified and assured agriculture, the building up of a wide range of small and processing industries in rural areas, rural electrification, growth of new skills, and general economic and industrial development. By putting available manpower resources to productive use, agricultural and economic development can be accelerated In areas in which there is considerable rural unemployment and under unemployment, whose economy has remained markedly underdeveloped, the productivity of substantial sections of the rural population can be increased through special rural programmes. their labour can be harnessed for strengthening the local economy and assuring minimum purchasing power and improved level of living.”

The I.L.O. Branch in India suggests that the policy of employment in rural areas should cover the following points:

(i) It should be a major policy to provide work for all who seek it.

(ii) The Plans for providing employment should be of a kind that help economic growth.

(iii) Employment policy should place special emphasis on broad-based programmes for promotion of productive employment in the rural sector.”

It further pointed out that, “work has to be provided to:

(a) All those who are able bodied and want work all the year round;

(b) To those who are employed only during busy agricultural season and need work during the slack season; and

(c) To those who are employed fully.”

The main line of action that should be considered is the utilisation of the idle and leisure hours of the employed. Unemployed and under-employed masses should be our aim.

Diversification of the rural economy through rural industrialisation with special stress on improving the technology in the existing rural industries and introducing new industries suited to the conditions of different regions, is, therefore, one of the major economic and social requirements of India.

Rural Works Programme:

The Third Plan admitted this situation and making an important advance in understanding the problem introduced a new employment programme known as rural work programme. It listed two categories of schemes involving considerable use of unskilled and semi-skilled labour.

These were:

(i) Local works at the block and village levels, and

(ii) Larger works requiring technical supervision and planning by departments.

Since there was need for fostering more employment opportunities during the slack agricultural seasons, the work programme to the extent possible, were planned for execution during these periods. For this purpose, adequate organisations were built up mainly in the states and also to the extent necessary at the center.

The total outlay envisaged over the Plan period was Rs 150 crores. If we look into the actual implementation of the rural works programmes, we can understand that the magnitude of works undertaken and the actual amount spent were far below than planned.

A concerted programme of rural works with a high employment potential and that at the same time promises to increase the productivity of land and labour, was undertaken with a view to provide relief to the farm workers.

The emphasis under the programme was on the construction of civil works of a permanent nature as would contribute to the mitigation if not the total eradication, of the scarcity conditions in the areas concerned. It was expected that the expenditure of every one crore of rupees under the programme would result in the creation of employment for about 25,000 to 30,000 persons in the working season,

Marginal Farmers and Agricultural Labourers:

This was a scheme included in the Fourth 5-year Plan with an outlay of Rs. 47.50 crores. Under the scheme 41 projects were proposed to be set up in selected districts. Each of these projects was expected to cover about 20,000 families during the Fourth Plan consisting of marginal farmers and farm labourers.

These families were to be assisted with subsidized credit support for agricultural and subsidiary occupations like diary, poultry, fishery, piggery-rearing, horticultural operations, etc. This scheme was expected to benefit about 8 to 9 lakh families of marginal farmer and farm labourers,

Integrated Dry Land Agricultural Development:

This was a centrally sponsored scheme taken up with a sum of Rs. 20 crores during this Plan. Under the scheme, 24 projects, which were in the nature of training-cum- demonstration programmes, were to be established around the I.C.A.R. research centres in 12 States.

Each project was to cover an area of about 8,000 acres in a phased manner. In these projects permanent works like soil conservation, land development and water harvesting were undertaken. These programmes were labour intensive and it was estimated that for an expenditure of every one crore of rupees on these works, about 15,000 persons will get employment.

Agro-Service Centres:

The scheme provided for assistance to the unemployed graduates and diploma holders in mechanical, agricultural and electrical engineering and allied fields and to graduates for agriculture and science with experience in agriculture. It aimed to help in establishing workshops, organizing agriculture machinery, repairing and hiring facilities and other technical services like supply of spare parts, inputs, etc.

The objectives of the scheme were:

(a) To provide self-employment opportunities to technical personnel;

(b) To provide on the farm maintenance and repairing facilities for agricultural machinery and implements;

(c) An easily accessible source of supply for spite puns, fuel, oil and lubricants and other engineering services; and

(d) Supply of inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, etc. It was expected that 5,000 centres would be set up.

Area Development Schemes:

These schemes relate to the development of adequate infrastructure facilities like roads, market complexes, etc., in area commanded by 10 major irrigation projects.

Employment Guarantee Scheme:

The Bhagwati Committee on Unemployment, which submitted its report on May 15, 1973, recommended Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, which was being then implemented in Maharashtra.

Under the scheme, the guarantee of work is restricted to unskilled manual work only; the guarantee extends only to able-bodied adults (men and women over 18 years); the participants have no choice of work but have to accept such work as is offered to them; they have no choice of the area of work.

This scheme is not applicable to municipal areas. But the Employment Guarantee Scheme is not to be looked upon as a substitute for other employment-oriented programmes under the Five-Year Plans. The Committee has suggested crash programmes for creating employment opportunities mainly in rural areas.

There have been some specific attempts at organisation of rural workforce for better utilisation of rural resources and to fulfil the rural needs such as the Land Army of Karnataka. The latest attempt is to guarantee employment to the rural people as has been tried in Maharashtra since 1972, and now the govt., is contemplating to cover the entire rural India under its Employment Guarantee Scheme.

The guarantee scheme of the Maharashtra state marks a distinct advance in the country’s progress towards a social welfare state. Very recently the various state governments have paid special attention to provide job opportunities in the rural sector and particular attention has been paid to ameliorate the condition of specially disadvantaged, socially back­ward and the so-called weaker sections of rural communities.

Article 41 of the constitution has laid down the right to work, it is a directive principle of the state policy. But this right to work has to be implemented by the state within the limits of its economic capacity and development.

While the constitution was being framed, Prof. K.T. Shah had pressed for the guarantee of work or employment. He, however, was, keen to couple the right to work with the duty to work. But ultimately B.N. Rail’s note and the report of the Constituent Assembly’s sub-committee on Fundamental Rights which mentioned the right to work as a directive of state policy formed the basis of the final provision in the constitution.

The right to work for employment for the mass of population has been a distant goal to be secured and attained by the state. While formulating the new policy regarding guaranteed employment,’ the experiences of Maharashtra and Karnataka should be taken into consideration.

The migration of population from rural to urban areas in search of employment is a regular feature in India, with the result that cities tend to grow at the expense of the country. Rural people have not only been migrating to nearby cities and metropolitan towns but sometimes they have been migrating to places several thousand kilometres away from their original habitat.

They have migrated not only within the country from one region to another, but also to foreign countries such as Fiji, Malaysia, Mauritius, New Guinea, many African countries and to several other parts of the world. Lack of employment opportunities in rural India have forced the people to drift in search of job far and wide.

Besides employment, the other reasons for rural exodus have been natural calamities, political disturbance, foreign invasions, missionary zeal and the spirit of adventure. This rural-urban, internal, intra-regional and inter­continental migration might have eased the employment situation to some extent, but it has failed to provide permanent employment to the villagers in large numbers.

Crash Programme for Rural Employment:

The primary objective of the scheme was to generate additional employment through a network of rural projects of various kinds which are labour-intensive and productive. The scheme had two fold purpose, (i) A project in each block should provide employment to 100 persons on an average continuously over a working season of 10 months in a year, (ii) Each project should produce works or assets of durable nature in consonance with the local development plans.

The various types of projects include schemes relating to minor irrigation, land reclamation, soil conservation, and afforestation, flood protection and anti-water logging measures, drinking water pisciculture, and construction of roads. The crash programme introduced in April 1971 involved an outlay of Rs. 150 crores in the three-year period 1971-74 to create employment for over 4 lakh persons.

We have described above the various steps taken by the Govt., to tackle rural unemployment and underemployment, but there is a high possibility that some of the measures may not meet with success. The main factor is the creation of an infrastructure to handle the crash programme and push it forward.

Agricultural unemployment has two peculiar features:

(a) Seasonal nature of the agricultural operations, and

(b) The disguised nature of agricultural unemployment.

Any remedial measures contemplated to convert the vast rural unemployed into a productive working force, have to take note of these two features. Demand for labour in agricultural operations, though acute and vast, is always with reference to a time.

As a corollary, the work force thrown out by agriculture to seek employment elsewhere is not a regular or a continuous flow of the job-seekers for whom complementary work projects could be readily provided. Further, the seasonal nature does not imply that there are well defined seasons with precisely measurable durations during which labour remains unemployed on the fields or needs to be employed outside agriculture. This type of unemployment is better called “sporadic unemployment” rather than seasonal unemployment” rather than seasonal unemployment.

This type of “sporadic unemployment” is more common in single crop areas than in multi-crop areas (which is only a small percentage of the total cropped areas). In single crop dry farming areas, even during the so-called active seasons, there are spells of enforced idleness for labour and very often there is work to do even in the off-seasons. The small farmer is not totally free to accept outside jobs, even when they are available though he needs them most, unless they are complementary in time to and co­extensive with his period of idleness.

An employment policy meant to provide gainful employment to these vast small farmers and agricultural labourers who are thrown out of work and into the sporadic period of idleness, should not aim at creating more jobs but create jobs keeping in view the time and place, of the demand for it. Measures should also be designed to reduce in- season unemployment. In other words, provision of employment is required to be made both intensively as well as extensively.

The various schemes started in the Fourth Plan or under Crash Plan, will not succeed in removing rural unemployment unless efforts are made to organise the army of the rural unemployed into appropriate supply camps to be shifted to places of demand for it at the desired minimum wage.

Moreover, these labour camps preferably organised by labour co-operatives should be properly coordinated with programmes undertaken under Small Farmers Development Areas and Marginal Farmers and Agricultural Labour.

The Auditor-General in his report to the Lok Sabha presented in August 1974 brought out the tragic fact that the various ‘crash’ and rural employment programmes on which the central government had spent Rs. 170 crores during the Fourth Plan had been wholly infructuous.

The makes of the first two 5-year Plans were aware of the problem of employment planning, and some attempt was made to increase the scope of activities which generate employment through community development and national extension service programmes throughout the country.

The idea perhaps was that the excess rural manpower would be absorbed gradually in rural industries. There was no additional rural employment programme during the first two Plan periods.

The experience since then however has been that neither the development activities under, the CDP and NES were able to create any substantial’ work opportunities for the rural people, no were the industrial development programmes including big, medium or small and village industries so geared as to absorb any appreciable number of excess rural starts.

In the third 5-year Plan, it was envisaged that along with programmes of development for large and small industries,’ for agriculture as well as economic and social services, there will also have to be a large-scale programme for rural works especially in densely-populated areas and for periods of underemployment during the slack (agricultural) seasons.

Minimum Needs Programme:

In view of the recent trust of new employment-generating activities such as MNP (Minimum Needs Programme), the CSRE was virtually dropped and a Pilot Intensive Rural Employment Project (PIREP) was evolved and taken up for working from 1972-73 to 1974-75 in 15 blocks throughout the country.

The object of this project is to collect the necessary data in order to ascertain the dimensions of the programme for providing full employment to everyone who is willing to work. This scheme was to be implemented over a three- year period and will accordingly spill over to the first year of the fifth five year Plan.

PIREP is a research-cum-action plan. It was found that the number of workers estimated by the employment survey, registered and turning up for work differed. It has been decided that each state govt, must take account the situation existing in the particular block and plan accordingly implementation of the works with due regard to the availability of farmers.

Fundamental Deficiencies:

In an underdeveloped country, failure to provide full employment can be traced to certain fundamental deficiencies in the economic structure.

Until the economic base has been greatly strengthened and education and other social services developed, the economy will not be able to achieve a rate of growth sufficient to provide work at an adequate level of remuneration to the entire rural population. These processes necessarily take time and call for a scale of effort and investment which may be well beyond the capacity of the economy in the early stages.

However, the reasons often given for not being able to solve the employment problem in rural India are:

(i) Pressure of population on land and rapid growth of population.

(ii) Lack of education and traditional, fatalistic orthodox outlook of the rural folk.

(iii) It is futile to try to solve the problem of rural employment, in an overpopulated land, by redistribution of land which is in short supply.

(iv) The redistribution of the surplus land among the landless and weaker section of the rural community has not provided them full employment. This has happened so because almost everywhere such land was of inferior quality and the person to whom the land was allotted suffered from many handicaps. In fuel in a majority of these cases the distribution of surplus land in small pieces to the landless does no good either to the landless or to the land.

(v) The number of landless labourers has been growing gradually and it will continue to grow till non-agricultural occupations absorb them in villages. All of them cannot be settled on land, because growth of employment opportunities within agriculture has not been significant. There is absence of adequate subsidiary occupations.

(vi) Progressive mechanisation and substitution of power for human labour has further aggravated the problem.

(vii) Village industries and artisans were the first to suffer, unable to compete with the new industrial products in their quality, variety and above all in costs, the people engaged in the traditional industries were thrown out of employment. Thus, they have swelled the ranks of either the small cultivators or the landless labourers. Those who clung to their traditional occupations have remained progressively underemployed.

(viii) Employment is most difficult in areas which have heavy pressure of population or in which on account of the scanty development of local resources, low levels of productivity persist and there is lack of continuous work,

(ix) Job opportunities for the unskilled have been insignificant.

Some Questions about Future Planning:

The important issues could be summarised as follows:

(1) If the existing pattern of planning to provide more employment opportunities is dis-functional, what should be the pattern of future planning?

(2) If the major effort is to be directed to the uplift of the rural poor and vulnerable sections of the community, what should be the main ingredients of our employment social policy?

(3) If the existing financial resources available for creating more jobs are not sufficient, how should they be utilised to yield optimum results?

(4) A faster rate of growth is pre-condition for rural employment. In view of this, how to restrict the migration of rural youths from villages to urban areas and how best to utilise the services of university educated youths hailing from rural areas for setting, working and developing the villages so that faster growth may be possible in rural India ?

(5) How far a more developed technology, scientific innovations and agronomic-research can help us in solving the problem of rural employment?

(6) How far creation of income opportunities outside agriculture and shifting of population from agricultural sector to non-agricultural sectors could help us in solving the vital issue of employment?

(7) How far the pooling together of schemes at the village level would turn the under and unemployed persons into producers by the optimum utilisation of human resources?

(8) What type of employment opportunities could be created to provide employment to educated persons particularly in view of the fact that the graduates of our universities fail to find employment which they expect?

The Now Strategy Suggested:

Provision of more employment should from the major component of our developmental programmes, projects, plans, services and new social legislation. The strategy suggested below is massive employment generation.

For this due emphasis needs to be laid on augmenting the production of food and other articles of mass consumption. Decentralisation of industries and expansion and development of village, small-scale and cottage industries could be of some help in this direction.

Regarding industries three increasingly important propositions are:

(a) Protecting the existing employment in the traditional industry from aggression of modern industry,

(b) Containing the modern industry to its present level and reserving all future expansion of production for traditional industry, and

(c) Undertaking an active expansion of the traditional industry with a view to covering some of the employment lost to modern industry and thus to expand employment even at the present level of production.

The use of power and cheap, light and handy machines which do not replace labour could help to some extent in providing more employment opportunities in rural areas. Population control and family planning needs to be given due attention but without any coercion of rural manpower planning.

A new social legislation needs to be introduced which may guarantee the right of gainful employment to every person.in rural India. This has also been a advocated by Dandekar and Rath as one of the means to solve rural poverty. Prior to introducing new social legislation, the scheme of employment introduced by Maharashtra deserves to be considered seriously. The creation of employment opportunities cannot be approached merely in overall terms. The problem needs to be broken up in terms of sectors, regions and classes.

“Diversifications of the industrial pattern, a suitable policy on location of industries, special measures to assist small scale and cottage industries, maintenance of economic activity continuously at high levels, provision of adequate training facilities, measures to promote geographical and occupational mobility of labour, all these must be considered as elements in the programme of creating new employment in the requisite scale.”

It could be further postulated that though provision of employment to all is too big and complex a problem to overcome within the span of a single five-year Plan, the compulsions of the present situation dictate that the Sixth five year Plan should be so oriented as to speed up the process of full employment and fulfil the people’s expectation by the utilisation of human resources, higher growth rate, and increased equality in terms of consumption.

The problems of rural employment have no easy solution. Even to talk of “solution” is to over-simplify them, as any apparent solution must arise or create other problems, political, economic, administrative, social or ecological.

The urgency of an elfective employment policy cannot be over-emphasised. We have set out some guidelines. No detailed recommendations can apply to all the village of different stages of India. But any approach to the employment problem can only be successful to the degree that it involves the optimum utilisation of local resources, the rural community, the rural elite, the progressive leaders and the people’s chosen or selected representatives.

---

Project Report # 4. Steps to Solve the Problem of Rural Unemployment:

The problem of unemployment in India is alarming. It has adversely affected the social life of many individuals. Thus, keeping in view the different aspects of the problem, some steps are suggested which will be helpful to solve the problem of rural unemployment and other types of urban unemployment.

These steps are:

(i) Reconstruction of Agriculture:

Indian agriculture is a mode of living rather than a profitable occupation. It is a tale of woe to tell. Therefore, it needs overhauling and reconstruction making an economic pursuit.

Methods of cultivation should undergo a radical change according to the conditions of local needs. Irrigations facilities should be unproved so that agriculture should not be at the mercy of monsoons. Institutional framework and agrarian relations should vigorously be adopted to provide social justice and economic equality.

(ii) Adoption of Labour Intensive Techniques:

Despite, the fact that the strategy of Prof. Mahalanobis for basic and key industries which is based on capital intensive techniques our government should try to adopt labour intensive techniques for new fields of production.

(iii) Rapid Industrialisation:

To solve the problem of industrial unemployment, remedy lies in stepping op industrial efficiency. It means that the expansion of existing and the development of new industries are urgently required.

Some basic industries like iron and steel industries, defence, chemical, power generation, and atomic etc. should be set up. At the same time to improve the defective and uneconomic centralisation, it is pre-requisite to introduce rationalization on scientific grounds.

(iv) Population Control:

There is no second opinion to say that population in India is ruing at a very high speed. Unless this problem is not checked, the problem of unemployment cannot be solved properly. Efforts should be made to raise the agricultural and industrial production. Therefore, special drive should be made to make the programme of family planning a good success specially in rural and backward regions of the country.

(v) Re-Orientation of Education System:

As regards the problem of educated unemployment in urban areas, India should reconstruct the education system and overhaul according to changing environment of the country. There must be vocationalisation of education. Proper education should be imparted to the younger men who will be in a position to start certain cottage and small scale industries of their own choice specially at village level.

(vi) Extension of Social Services:

India is still lagging behind in the sphere of education, medical science and other services as compared to the advanced countries of the West. Therefore, efforts should be made to extend these services to rural folks and in the backward regions of the country. It will go a long way to impart awakening among the common masses.

(vii) Decentralisation:

Experience shows that lack of gainful opportunities of employment in villages and small towns has led to the migration of people to metropolitan cities in search of alternative jobs. This has created the problem of over crowdedness and urbanization. Under these circumstances, it is advisable to encourage industries around small towns preferably according to the local endowments.

(viii) Encouragement of Small Enterprises:

To provide the opportunities for self-employment, small scale industries should be given top priority. They should be provided liberal loans, training, facilities of raw material and infrastructures and market facilities etc. It is a good luck that the Sixth Five Year Plan (1980-85) has given due consideration to dispel these facilities under the scheme of self-employment. Similar steps have been proposed in the Eighth Five Year Plan.

(ix) Guiding Centres and More Employment Exchanges:

The economists are of unanimous view that more employment exchanges should be opened in rural as well as in urban areas to give guidance to the people to search employment. They should also be motivated for self-employment proposals.

(x) Rural Development Schemes:

As rural sector is dominated and agriculture is the basic occupation of the people, therefore, urgent need of the hour is to introduce rural development schemes. It is correctly believed that there is no other remedy than a massive programme of investment in rural development and massive injection of science and technology into the methods of production followed in rural areas in their agricultural and non-agricultural activities.

---

Project Report # 5. Government Policy Measures to Remove Unemployment:

(i) National Rural Employment Programme:

The National Rural Employment programme was started as a part of the sixth plan and remained continued under the seventh five year plan. It envisages to create employment opportunities of the order of 300-400 million man-days every year. It aims to provide employment in the lean agricultural season. During the seventh plan, the outlay for this programme is targeted at Rs. 3092 crores and it created 1477 million man-day.

(ii) Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme:

RLEGP was started in 1983. The bask objective of the programme was:

(a) To improve and expand employment opportunities for rural landless workers,

(b) To strengthen the rural infra-structure.

During the seventh five year plan about 1154 million man-days of employment were created under this programme.

(iii) Integrated Rural Development Programme:

Integrated Rural Development Programme aims at to raise the poor people above the poverty line. It was expected to cover 18 million families in the blocks of the country during the seventh plan. On an average about 3,000 families in a block were provided assistance through this programme.

(iv) Food for Work Programme:

This programme was Started in 1977. Its objectives were to generate employment, improvement in income, creation of durable community assets, strengthening of rural infra-structure. This scheme was directly beneficial to the poor people. According to an estimate the scheme was to generate additional employment of 40 crores man-days in a year.

(v) Training Rural Youth for Self-Employment:

TRYSEM war started in 1979 with the objective of removing unemployment among the rural youth. It aimed at to provide training to about 2 lakh rural youth every year, so that they may be self-employed.

Under this scheme 40 youths were selected from each block. In making selection, members of SC/ST were, given preference. Under the scheme, a minimum of 33^–1/3% of rural youth trained were to be women. During the seventh plan 10 lakh rural youth received training under TRYSEM.

(vi) Operation Flood II Dairy Development Projects:

This programme is expected to benefit 8 million milk producing families. The other Dairy Development Schemes would benefit about 5 million additional families.

(vii) Employment Guarantee Scheme:

This scheme was started by the government of Maharashtra in 1972-73. It provides gainful and productive employment to rural unskilled labour by raising durable community assets like roads, canals etc. The scheme provides right to work at a wage of Rs. 6 per day. Similar schemes have been started in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

(viii) Jawahar Rojgar Yojana:

Jawahar Rojgar Yojna (JRY) was started in 1989-90. Its aim is to generate additional employment by taking up productive works in rural areas. During the Seventh Plan, it had generated 3497 million man-days of employment.

(ix) Nehru Rojgar Yojana:

Nehru Rojgar Yojna was started in October 1989. It consists of three sub schemes viz., scheme of urban micro enterprises, scheme of urban wages employment, scheme of housing and shelter up gradation. In 1991-92, 1.59 lakh families were assisted under SUME and 13 million man-day of employment were generated under SUME and SHASU.

(x) Minimum Needs Programme:

The various components of the minimum needs programme are meant to create substantial additional employment in infra-structure and social services in rural areas.

---