New Delhi: The lockdown of over 60 days has created the biggest employment crisis in the country so far. According to the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy Private Limited (CMIE), 11.4 crore people lost their jobs in the month of April alone. Workers are the worst hit in this. Around 9.1 crore workers have lost their jobs. Similarly, 1.8 crore small businessmen and 1.78 crore salaried people have lost their jobs.
According to Mahesh Vyas, MD and CEO of CMIE, the number of job occupants in April declined 29 per cent from 396 million to 28.2 crore as compared to March. The most shocking among these figures is the inclusion of unemployed people in the business category. Because a businessman declares himself unemployed only when he feels that his business can no longer recover and is completely devastated. The survey revealed that about 1.8 crore people were unemployed. Similarly, another problem is going to arise in front of the salaried person in this crisis. Once the lockdown is fully open, it will not be easy for the job occupation to get a job again. Because for the last three years, jobs in the organized sector have remained between 8-9 crore.
If these figures are analyzed on the basis of age, then the situation looks more frightening. In the month of April, 13 million people aged 20-24 have lost their jobs. Similarly, 14 million people aged 25–29 years have become unemployed. This means that 27 million people up to 30 years have lost their jobs. For whom it will not be easy to get a job in the coming time. Similarly, among such people who are more than 30 years of age and under 40 years, there is an employment crisis in front of 3.3 crore people. 86 per cent of the jobs in this category have been lost. While those 40 and older account for 48% of the total unemployed people.
On the deteriorating situation, according to Rajan Vadhera, President of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, “The automobile industry employs about 37 million people. The automobile industry is expecting a growth of 22–35 per cent due to the Covid-19 crisis. This will directly affect employment. ” According to industry sources, jobs could be reduced by up to 25 per cent. The same is happening in the tourism and hospitality industry. According to Vijay Kalantari, president of the All India Association of Industries, the tourism, hospitality, events and entertainment industries have not received any immediate relief in the relief package announced by the government. Because of this there is a crisis on jobs on a large scale. The tourism and hospitality sector alone has 4.2 crore jobs, similarly the event industry employs around one crore people and the media and entertainment industry employ 5 million people. The Covid-19 crisis has deepened on all of this. Similarly, the restaurant industry employs about seven crore people. The Covid crisis could lead to nearly 2 million jobs.
It is clear that unemployment figures are very frightening, in such a situation it is definitely the biggest crisis after independence. Now it is to be seen how the Modi government resolves this dreadful crisis. Because when Prime Minister Narendra Modi first came to power in 2014, the biggest reason for his victory was the promise of providing jobs on a large scale. But after 6 years, the government has probably forgotten that promise.
