The Situation of Government Jobs

PM has ordered, million central government posts to be filled in a mission mode over the next one and a half years.

The Current Picture of Employment in India

The unemployment rate is defined as the percentage of unemployed persons in the labor force.

• Suffered by demonetization, pandemic, and subsequent lockdowns, now the Indian economy has started showing some signs of revival.
• The annual report of the Periodic Labour Force Survey for July 2020 to June 2021 showed that the unemployment rate decreased to 4.2% from 4.8% in 2019-20.
• The unemployment rate was higher for males than females in rural areas.
• In urban areas, the unemployment rate was higher for females than males, opposite as compared the rural area.
• The Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), or those working or seeking or available for work in the labour force, was the highest in four years around 39.3% in 2020-21.
• The unemployment rate in the country stands at 7.83% in April 2022 according to CMIE (Center for Monitoring Indian Economy).
• India is still far behind the US, China, and others county in public sector employment.

CURRENT STRENGTH OF CENTRAL HUMAN RESOURCES.

• Union Budget 2022-23 estimated the strength of central government employees at 34.65 lakh as of March 1, 2022.
• According to the Annual Report of the Department of Expenditure (2019-20), approx. 21.75% of the sanctioned posts were vacant as of March 1, 2020.
• The Indian Railways is the biggest government employer with around 12.52 lakh employees as of March 1, 2020.
• Almost 92% of the central government’s manpower is employed in Railways (almost 40%), Home Affairs (almost 30%), Defence (Civil) (nearly 12%), Department of Posts (almost 5.50%), Department of Revenue (more than 3%)
• Also, a large number of employees have been hired on contract as per the recommendations, especially of the last two Pay Commissions.

MAJOR RECRUITMENT BODY

• The UPSC and SSC are the two main bodies that recruit for the central government post mainly for the group A and group B
• SSC recruits for all group B (Non-gazette) and group C (Non-technical) posts in the central ministries.

DOES THE GOVERNMENT ONE AND HALF YEAR DEADLINE MAKE SENSE??

• There has been a lack of framework for recruitment in the various ministries and departments (except the Agneepath Scheme).
• The one and half-year deadline raise suspicion about the feasibility of achieving the target.
• The vacancies and the required skill set necessary for the candidate should be clearly defined.
• This will create more burden on the future government expenditure which will again raise the revenue expenditure.

NEED OF THE HOUR

• With the technology offering more solutions, the government should focus on the technological solution which will replace the human in monotonous jobs and lead to a decreased burden in paying more salaries and allowances.