Spiralling Unemployment

Economists have been sounding concern against agriculture turning less lucrative due to the non-remunerative prices of agriculture produces. This has pushed a large section of the rural masses engaged in agriculture to shift to the unorganised sectors as unskilled workers. Cash assistance deposited in bank accounts as 'Direct Benefit Transfer' (DBT) given by the Central and the State government under various flagship schemes have provided some financial relief to economically weaker sections. However, failure to generate new self-employment avenues to absorb the rising number of educated unemployed remains unaddressed. The financial stress caused by the oversupply of microfinance loans in rural Assam that led to the State government passing a legislation to regulate the microfinance activities is also a manifestation of nervous response by the rural households to the rising joblessness and lack of avenues of self-employment outside the primary sectors.

The State government has to ensure that farmers get the minimum support prices (MSPs) for their agricultural produce to prevent them from shifting to the unorganised sectors where employment opportunities are gripped by yet more uncertainty. The Central government should procure the rice distributed under scheme of 'National Food Security Act' from farmers in the State to ensure remunerative prices for the surplus produce. Due to the poor procurement of surplus rice in the State by the 'Food Corporation of India' (FCI), the farmers are left at the mercy of the rice traders and middlemen who exploit them and compel them to go for distress selling. The State should also impress upon the Central government and the 'National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited' (NAFED) for a share of the proposed export of rice to Bangladesh from India. Bangladesh is finalising a rice deal with India for purchasing 1.50 lakh metric tonnes of rice from NAFED. Bangladesh is the third largest rice importer and has been importing rice from Thailand and Vietnam to meet the country's shortfall rising due to natural calamities like the extreme flood and draught situations. India has offered discounts to woo the neighbour to procure from the surplus production in the country; and the State must not let go the opportunity of lobbying for its share of the export to pass on the benefit to the farmers. Emphasis should be given on setting up food processing industries for value addition to agricultural and horticultural produces.

The State government needs to undertake practical measures so that policy announcements in this regard do not remain on paper. The State government announced Rs 50,000 entrepreneurship grant to two lakh unemployed youth under the 'SVAYEM' scheme - 'Swami Vivekananda Assam Youth Empowerment Yojana'. Had the State been successful in implementing the scheme in right earnest when it was launched in 2017-18, it would have led to the generation of huge employment avenues in the State apart from generating employment avenues for the targeted members of the self-help groups. Nature of activities for income generating activities allowed under 'SVAYEM' include manufacturing, processing, service sector, trading, rural transport service (such auto rickshaw, e-rickshaw), tourism besides shops, repairing centres, handicraft, cottage industries. Mapping the geographical areas for the scope of these income-generating activities is essential so that enterprise undertaken with the grant is sustainable. The State government has sanctioned Rs 1,000 crore for the scheme and, therefore, availability of fund is not an issue. The scheme, if implemented in the true spirit can change the employment scenario in Assam; and, it should not be allowed to be reduced to a mere pre-poll sop to attract the unemployed youth. Timely and result-oriented measures are needed to address the employment crisis.