A ready-made solution to unemployment
The pandemic has pushed another 100 million people around the world into extreme poverty, says the World Bank chief. Such has been the economic impact of Covid-19, the severity of which is being felt in India too. A report by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy says around 1.8 crore salaried jobs were lost since April.
Trapped under the crushing weight of loans, insurance payments, unprecedented electricity charges and healthcare expenses, the public are looking towards governments, hoping for a panacea. Sops may help win elections but, in these times of real distress, they hardly make a difference.
There is a ready solution at hand, which governments must come forward to utilise—filling up lakhs of government posts that have been remaining vacant for the last several years. Almost every state government department, Central ministry, police station, court, fire station, public school, public bank and university is currently short-staffed.
By the government’s own data, there were close to seven lakh unfilled vacancies in Central government departments and ministries as of March 2018. By rough estimates, that is enough to employ over 10% of those rendered unemployed, considering they have the required qualifications. That apart, nearly 60% posts reserved for SC/ST candidates in Central ministries and departments are lying vacant.
Lakhs of teaching jobs are unfilled across the country—Haryana had 31,000 vacancies as of March and Uttar Pradesh had a whopping 1.4 lakh vacancies as of April this year. Multiple reports have also highlighted the shortage of trained nurses and doctors to treat Covid in rural India.
Governments across the world will have to reconsider how the economy operates in the post-Covid era. Laissez-faire has proved to be inefficient in helping the world tide through such crises. The focus must be on rebuilding the public machinery. It provides the required checks and balances for the private sector. Filling up lakhs of vacancies would be a good start to ensure timely and efficient delivery of public services while also providing more livelihood opportunities.