Update from Darbhanga

Joblessness ?is a much discussed topic these days ; I had a chai pe charcha with my old domestics from Bihar ,Darbhanga area; their inputs :

High School/College Graduates

• There is no shortage of work if an educated young person anywhere, including in large urban cities, is prepared to work as? a helper in the field, construction worker, factory worker, small scale manufacturing/assembly units , courier delivery, helper in shops; for such work a salary of Rs ?12 to 15000 per month is the norm even in the rural areas
• The issue is that after a young man is educated?? then he does not want to do such work , as this impacts negatively his social standing and? compromises his getting a good bride with dowry , as brides parents want a groom with own decent plot size ?land and house, or working in a central or state govt/army ?job ?( which have in a sense spoilt the market with their salaries /benefits ! ) , or working in a permanent job in a good company like Tata etc, or in? a security job in a reputed ?company like Group 4 ( which offers permanent jobs ), or who is in some business like running a shop, a small construction contractor, local services like taxi /tractor service, etc ; this is the demand also of the young ladies who are high school pass ! starting such a business of? course needs funds
• With the massive growth in land and other property values , there is a sense of security in such a young man that he? will never go hungry, or will not have a roof, or will not have enough to live reasonably comfortably , as he can always sell in some chunks /or encash and relocate to a cheaper place if needed
• This likely explains why there are lakhs of applications for a few thousand Police Constable jobs , as they are valued in the Marriage market ! and all of them appear to be quite healthy !

Not High School Pass , usually landless people

• In a village/small town, even such ?people have their own small homes , and most have a small plot of land which? yields vegetables and milk from domestic cows/goats; so even if a young man is unemployed ,he will get ?in addition ration of approx. 10? kgs per month from central and state govt ; plus his father and mother will get some annual payout from the govt ; hence he can live comfortably enough? !
• Also ?they can ?get readily Rs 400/day , Rs 10000 per month from NREGA, plus rations as above
• This explains why ?such young men do not want to go to larger towns for construction labour, factory labour , unorganized domestic/MSME security jobs which are not permanent , or domestic staff jobs ; the urban allure is vanishing , especially after covid measure induced mass migration and job losses due demonetization? !
• However if such a person does not get a local employment , and he wants to work, he will can migrate to a city and he will surely find some occupation as mentioned above as? a helper in a factory , construction,? small scale manufacturing, services and domestic staff at around Rs 12 to 15000 per month

So there is a problem for the high school graduates, who does not want to do “ menial work “ , but not for the non-graduates , or those graduates who do not mind such work ;Its good old caste system again , ?not to do and be seen doing “menial work”!

Policy makers need to seriously think about what can be done ;some suggestions

• Skilling the educated young in? skilled manufacturing jobs , increasing opportunities? in the education and healthcare , other service sectors
• Making so called “ menial work “ better skilled , better paying and better regarded in society ( as it is in other countries ) Ananda Chaudhury Alok Saxena Malini Chopra Anshu Gupta Nami Luthra Rohit Gandhi