Absolute decline in India's employment post 2013: Report
New Delhi, Sep 25 : Indias structural transformation has been slower than desired resulting in a situation that there has been an absolute decline in employment post 2013, with the rate of unemployment among the youth now at 16 per cent, says a report by one of the country's noted private universities released on Tuesday.
The State of Working India (SWI) report by the Centre for Sustainable Employment at Azim Premji University said there is an urgent need to think comprehensively about employment and for the government to formulate a focused National Employment Policy.
"Even as GDP growth rates have risen, the relationship between growth and employment generation has become weaker over time. Growth creates fewer jobs than it used to. A 10 per cent increase in GDP now results in less than 1 per cent increase in employment," the SWI report said.
"Between 2013 and 2015, total employment actually shrank by seven million. More recent data from private sources show that the absolute decline has continued past 2015," it said.
"A recent study claims, to the contrary, that the economy generated 13 million new jobs in 2017. Unfortunately, this optimistic conclusion depends on selective use of data and unjustified assumptions. As a result, the rate of unemployment among the youth and higher educated has reached 16 per cent."
India's new payroll data prepared by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) shows that around 9.5 lakh jobs were created in the formal sector in July, as against the requirement of more than a million joining the workforce each month.
The SWI report conceives of India's ongoing structural transformation as composed of two processes -- movement of workers from agriculture to non-farm occupations and from informal to formal activities -- while it adds crucial considerations of social equity and ecological sustainability to this framework.
India's problem has traditionally been known as not one of unemployment but underemployment and low wages, according to the report.
"But a new feature of the economy is a high rate of open unemployment, which is now over 5 per cent overall, and a much higher 16 per cent for youth and the higher educated," it said.
"The increase in unemployment is clearly visible all across India, but is particularly severe in the northern states." According to SWI, adjusted for inflation, wage rates have grown in most sectors at 3 per cent per annum or more.
"But 82 per cent of male and 92 per cent of female workers earn less than Rs 10,000 a month," it said.
In this regard, the minimum salary recommended by the Seventh Central Pay Commission (CPC) is Rs 18,000 per month.
"Even in the organised manufacturing sector 90 per cent of the industries pay wages below the CPC minimum. The situation is worse in the unorganised sector," the report said.
Last but not least, gender disparities are still high but are reducing in some cases, according to the SWI.
Women are 16 per cent of all service sector workers but 60 per cent of domestic workers, while overall women earn 65 per cent of men's earnings.
"The Indian economy remains heavily gender segregated. Occupationally, women are under-represented among senior officers, legislators and managers. The situation has worsened with the proportion falling from 13 per cent in 2011 to 7 per cent in 2015," the report said.
The ratio of male to female labour force participation rate varies from less than 0.2 in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab to 0.5 in Tamil Nadu as well as Andhra Pradesh, and to above 0.7 in Mizoram and Nagaland, it added.
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BCI urges CJI to take action against Andhra HC judge for sending young lawyer to 24-hour custody
New Delhi (PTI): The Bar Council of India on Wednesday sought the urgent intervention of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant following a "deeply disturbing" incident where a judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court reportedly sent a young advocate to
24-hour judicial custody over a procedural lapse.
The Bar Council of India (BCI) Chairperson and senior advocate Manan Kumar Mishra, in a formal representation, termed the conduct of Justice Tarlada Rajasekhar Rao "grossly inappropriate" and "damaging to the confidence of the Bar".
“I most respectfully request your Lordship to kindly take immediate institutional cognizance of the matter and call for the video recording of the proceedings, the order passed, and the surrounding circumstances.
“I further request that appropriate administrative action may kindly be considered, including withdrawal of judicial work from the learned Judge pending review, his immediate transfer to some far off High Court, and his nomination for appropriate judicial training/orientation on court management, judicial temperament, Bar-Bench relations, and proportional exercise of contempt/judicial authority,” Mishra wrote.
This representation is made to preserve the “dignity, moral authority and public confidence of the judiciary”, he said, adding, “Judges command the highest respect not by fear, but by fairness, patience, restraint and constitutional humility”.
The communication urged the CJI to intervene at the earliest to ensure that the faith of Bar, particularly young advocates, in the protective and corrective role of the judiciary is restored.
The controversy stems from proceedings on May 5.
According to the BCI, a video circulating online shows Justice Rao rebuking a young advocate who was unable to produce a specific order copy during a hearing.
The letter said that despite the advocate "repeatedly seeking pardon and mercy" and claiming he was in physical pain, the judge remained "unmoved".
The judge allegedly told the lawyer, "now you will learn," and mocked his experience before directing the Registrar and police personnel to take him into custody for 24 hours.
The BCI chairperson said that the judge’s actions lacked proportionality and fairness.
"The dignity of the court is not enhanced when a lawyer is made to beg for grace in open court and is still sent to custody for a procedural lapse," the letter said.
"A young lawyer... is an officer of the Court, still learning, still growing, and entitled to correction without humiliation," it added.
The bar body said that such actions create a "chilling effect" on the legal fraternity, particularly among junior members, and undermine the mutual respect required between the Bench and the Bar.
