Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has assured he will provide suitable employment to all migrant labourers according to their skills in the state itself and appealed to them to stay back and contribute to Bihar’s development.
But will Kumar’s promise of providing employment to the huge migrant labour force be fulfilled before the upcoming assembly elections and will he be able to reap political benefit out of it? Or, it is just a long-term promise which he would possibly fulfil only after he returns to power after the polls.
Going by the present employment capacity of Bihar, it is a tall order to be achieved before the upcoming state assembly elections due in October-November. Any measure, long-term or short term, to provide employment to nearly 30 lakh migrant force will need some time to be implemented even if the government sets it as its top agenda.
Given that some concrete measures are launched before the enforcement of the model code of conduct expected in mid-September, if the polls have to be held on schedule, Bihar will not be able to absorb such a huge work force.
After initial flip-flop on bringing them back to the state, Kumar allowed the migrant labourers to return and now the government is conducting a profiling of their skills. The unskilled work force had migrated to other states in search of jobs and now most of them have returned with certain skills acquired during their on-the-job-training in the industries or units they worked to earn their livelihood.
With nearly one-third of the total population living below poverty line and lack of employment opportunities, a large section of Bihar’s young population was forced to move out for livelihood. As per the Periodic Labour Force Survey, nearly 40 per cent youth had no jobs and the unemployment rate had jumped to 7.2 per cent in 2017-18 from 2.5 per cent in 2011-12. The employment scenario earlier was also not rosy at all.
The state government is preparing a data base of skilled and unskilled labourers in order to create employment for them. Nearly 2.5 lakh migrant labourers have been surveyed for their skills. The profiling is being done into 79 skill heads and most of them have skills in construction sector as masons, tailoring and painting works.
The major work force among the returnees is daily-wage earners, who worked in construction sector in big cities and farms in Punjab and Haryana. Besides, semi-skilled and skilled workers were employed with medium and small industries, hotels and garment industry.
As an initial response to deal with the migrants’ crisis, the Nitish Kumar government has so far spent over Rs 6,000 crore and major part of this amount has been directly credited to the bank accounts of different groups of beneficiaries. An average of over Rs 3,500 has been credited to each beneficiary.
Kumar has set up a Task Force comprising senior officers headed by Development Commissioner for economic rehabilitation of the migrants. He has also urged industrialists especially those from Bihar to set up units in the state and assured them every possible government support.
The chief minister claimed that there are ample opportunities in textiles, shoe, bag, furniture besides bicycle industries and the world-famous silk industry. “As Bihar is a huge consumer market, setting up industries will spur growth and development of market. Therefore, businessmen of the state and outside should favourably consider it,” he said.
As a short-term measure, the government has been trying to explore jobs in earth works in irrigation projects, Jal Jivan Hariyali scheme, Saat Nischay scheme for urban and semi-urban areas, bridge construction and others. The government has also urged the National Highways Authorities of India, which is executing several mega bridge projects in Bihar, to employ the migrant workers.
But these projects will cater only to the unskilled workers though their number is huge. The bigger challenge is to absorb the semi-skilled and skilled workers in industrial and manufacturing sector and construction activities. The bulk of these workers need a well-laid industrial set-up where they could earn their livelihood according to the skills they have acquired.
However, the potential of heavy industries in Bihar is comparatively less as major mineral-rich areas have gone to Jharkhand after bifurcation of the state. Since then, the industrial sector in the state has been suffering from low investment, low capital formation and low return on investment.
The comparison of the contribution of the industrial sector to the Gross State Value Added (GSVD) across states suggests that it was the lowest in Bihar among other states and it stood at merely 20 per cent in 2017-18. Within the secondary sector, the size of manufacturing sector is very small in the state.
Bihar’s per capita GDP stands at Rs 47,541 at current prices, which is three times less than the national average of Rs 1, 42,719. As per Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) index of NITI Aayog of 2019-20, the scorecard of Bihar has fallen from 45 in 2018 to 33 in 2019.
The total employment capacity of trade and industries in Bihar at present is approximately 1.50 lakh personnel. In Bihar, major employment-generating industries for working males are agriculture, forestry and fishing which engaged 44.6 per cent, construction 17.1 per cent, wholesale and retail trade and repair of vehicles 12.3 per cent and manufacturing 9.3 per cent.
Hence, only medium scale industries in agro-sector are possible in the state besides maize-based industries. The condition of medium, small and micro enterprises (MSME) is poor. The state government is trying to woo MSMEs from other states where the migrants used to work. “We are reaching out to these companies asking them to come to Bihar and set up industrial units in Bihar itself,” said Bihar deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.
Modi said the economic stimulus package unveiled by the Centre would benefit over 5,000 MSMEs. The EPF contribution of employees from April to June will now be paid by the Centre. “The concept of MSMEs has also changed now with the investment limit of Rs 20 crore and turnover of Rs 100 crore,” he said.
The Bihar government is also exploring the possibilities of entering into agreements with developed states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana and others to ensure that the workers from Bihar get their dues like insurance cover as per wage rules.
The major agro-based industries which Bihar once boasted of were sugar industries mostly in private sector. As Bihar accounts for 3.5 per cent sugarcane production in the country, it has huge potential for employment generation especially in north-eastern part of the state. At present, altogether 11 sugar mills across six districts are operational in private sector. But at one point of time, it has altogether 15 sugar mills which were taken over by the government under the Bihar State Sugar Corporation.
Admittedly, the remittances from the migrants have positive impact on consumption demand, but it has failed to add to the production capacity of the state’s economy. The most sustainable solution to this problem is rapid industrialization.
Given the large size of working population, Bihar would require a kind of industrialization that is broadly labour-intensive and also leads to large-scale capital formation within the state and thereby expanding the base of non-agricultural economy.
But all talks of migrants and their employment is aimed at reaping benefits in polls. While the ruling alliance claims to have done the best so far, the opposition keeps on lambasting the government for its ‘abject’ failure.
Comments
0 comment