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`Good governance can tackle unemployment'

By Our Staff Correspondent

BHOPAL, MARCH 30. The key speakers who took part in a panel discussion on the National Employment Guarantee Scheme at the National Law Institute University (NLIU) here today were unanimous in pointing out that good governance and institutional reforms in the bureaucracy were needed to tackle the problem of unemployment in the country.

This was the common refrain at the discussion on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill, 2004, held at the launch of the Law and Economics Cell of the National Law Institute University. Speaking on the occasion, the Economic Adviser to the State Finance department, K.S.R.V.S. Chalam, said at a time when the Indian economy was getting integrated with global economy, the agriculture sector had not been adequately infused and private investment in agriculture had actually come down.

He pointed out that there exists a vast gap between the market and the rural society. The market was leaving an adverse impact on the agriculturists, Mr. Chalam said adding that even the labour force had come down in the agriculture sector. He pointed towards the "basic lacunae" in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill saying that it even proposes to defy the minimum wages Act of 1948.

He said instead of enacting the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, there was serious need to go for institutional reforms in the agriculture sector. He also drew attention towards the procurement policy saying it only benefits the big farmers. The former bureaucrat and chairman of National Centre for Human Settlement and Environment, M.N. Buch cautioned against the tendency to "dichotomise between the rural and urban sectors, especially since many rural and urban areas are closely interlinked".

He said too much importance has been given to the tertiary sector in recent years despite the fact that agriculture is the mainstay of our economy and the tertiary sector is dependent on the other sectors. He cited the example of China and said the secondary sector was not growing at a pace it should. He observed that the rural employment guarantee programme was an ill-conceived programme the United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre proposes to implement obviously due to pressure from the Left. Setting the trend for today's discussion, the Director NLIU, M.C. Sharma, said the idea was to have a total perspective and consider the social, economic, legal, political and demographic aspects linked with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill.

Participating in the discussion, Rohtash Patel, a final year law student, said the Government should act as a facilitator and introduce an "Opportunity Guarantee Scheme" instead of enacting an Employment Guarantee Act.

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`Good governance can tackle unemployment'

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