How corona-lockdown-virus is killing youths

Corona pandemic situation has unleashed a bloody trail of hunger and unemployment which is growing with every passing day.

Apart from creating difficulties in day-to-day life, the crisis has crippled all economic activities leading to closure, shut down, joblessness and unemployment. It is an unprecedented crisis of such a great magnitude that our country has never witnessed since Independence.

In the current crisis, the worst affected is the youth of India. Today, Indian youth are in the forefront in waging a battle against coronavirus. In India 65 % of the population is under the age of 35 years and the age group of 15-29 years comprise 27.5 % of the population. The population of India has a median age of 28 years only as against 38 years for USA, 42 years for China and 48 years for Japan. Whether it is an organised sector or unorganised sector, the majority of labour force in India is comprised of youth.

Since 2014, the Indian economy had been facing the worst-ever economic crisis. All economic parameters were declining. The demonetisation of Indian currency, which proved to be disastrous misadventure further aggravated the situation. It has created chaos and anarchic situation in almost all sectors of economic activities and resulted in high unemployment. Also, demonetisation threw millions of workers in the unorganised sector out of job. In 2017, according to credible news reports, top seven IT firms in India including Infosys, Wipro and Cognizant sacked nearly 50,000 employees.

The rapid decline in the Indian economy and the prolonged slowdown will have adverse effect on youth, with the evident decline in the job opportunities. Every year India produces large pool of highly talented graduates from IITs and IIMS. These engineering and management graduates are finding it increasingly difficult to secure a suitable job due to shrinking employment opportunities.

Other qualified graduates and educated youth entering Indian job market are in vulnerable condition and not able to generate bare minimum earnings to live a healthy life. The rate of increase in employment in key sectors like manufacturing, construction, trade, transport, education, health, accommodation and IT has declined sharply. The automobile sector which was reeling under prolonged slump has also adversely affected the job market and nearly 4 lakh employees have lost their jobs. In future it may increase further.

Worsening scenario of job opportunities is a stark reality. Of the one million new people who enter the job market every month, only 0.01 per cent of new workers added to the work force. According to the estimates of CMIE, the job losses due to demonetisation was about 1.5 million. The number of employed in the 15-24 age bracket was down by about 10 million to 44 million in the last one year.

In May 2019, the Union Government released the official data which has put unemployment rate as 6.1 per cent which is the highest in the last four decades. At the same time the data released by the Union Labour Ministry showed 7.8 per cent of all employable urban youth being jobless, while the percentage in the rural area was 5.3%. All these numbers point out the financial stress our country is experiencing currently which cannot be solved in the near future. The business activity is already witnessing the slow down with consumption showing signs of stagnation that has stifled both growth impulses and new job creation.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has come out with a surprising fact that there is poor access to decent jobs which is causing unrest globally. According to the ILO’s social unrest index, there was a rise at the global level and in seven out of 11 sub-regions from 2009-2019. The ILO report indicate that mass protests in Lebanon and Chile as in indication of dissent over the job scenario. Today, the challenge created by COVID-19 is unprecedented. Due to the impact of COVID-19 on global GDP growth, the ILO estimates indicate a rise in global unemployment of ranging between 5.3 million to 24.7 million. The jobless youth, in coming days may hit streets seeking livelihood and it may likely cause unrest in the country.

In order to resolve the emerging crisis of unemployment, the Union Government should immediately stop privatizing the PSU’s and enhance the scope of providing employment to skilled labour. The Finance Ministry needs to infuse working capital in the MSMEs sector in order to protect the interest of self-employed youth. An act should be passed by the union government immediately to ensure the job security and social protection to the existing employees by preventing loss of employment and their earnings.

Legal action should be taken against companies sacking the employees and the state authorities should sensitize the land lords who are evicting the job holders from the rented accommodation. As the unemployment crisis is accentuating faster, the Government should provide allowance to the unemployed youth who are enrolled with State Labour Boards. Since economy is reeling under recession, the MPLADS funds and the donation received through PM CARES Fund can be pooled together and a comprehensive package for unemployment allowance can be created in order to ‘de-traumatize’ the youth from the lockdown impact.

At this juncture, stabilising the Indian economy can be a long run challenge and much before that providing relief to the youth and rebuilding their future is the need of hour. Amidst chaos, the utmost priority of the state is to safeguard the interest of the youth in the country before the anger of youth converts into social unrest. The Government should expand economic opportunities for employment generation; ensure empowerment of unemployed youth by ensuring an effective safety net to reduce their vulnerability.

The author is Fellow at Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram