Reading the signs of Bengal's job distress

KOLKATA: As West Bengal readies for the next round of voting, the electorate is brooding over the balance sheet of five years of `poriborton' that a rampant

Mamata

Bannerjee had promised in 2011. She swept the polls dislodging the Left Front after nearly 35 years then. This time the path is seemingly more difficult and the voters sullen.

A key factor for people's disappointment is the stark employment situation. Disregarding the unsourced big numbers doled out by ministers, all other government validated data points to a sluggish and faltering economic situation. Average yearly growth in agriculture between 2011-12 and 2014-15 (the last year for which data is available) was a mere 1.7%.This is more than what was registered under the preceding four-year period under Left Front -but insufficient to boost employment.

One measure of rural unemployment and distress is the number of people wanting work under the job guarantee scheme.Data for the past four years is deeply worrying for Bengal.Last year, over 65 lakh households -representing at least 3 crore people -applied for work under MGNREGS, as per government records.

This is the country's highest, even higher than more populated states such as UP , Maharashtra and Bihar. Considering the scheme provides only about 48 days of work in a year, and the work is backbreaking manual labour, the high numbers only speak of one thing: other work is scarce in the rural areas.

It may be argued that high demand is because the scheme is efficiently implemented. But a look at the scheme's other as pects will reveal the contrary .Just 4.4% of the works started in 2015-16 have been completed and over 71% of wages are delayed by over two weeks, 48% by over four weeks.

Clearly, it is just work demand that's filling up paper, for, neither is there any output nor are people getting much needed cash on time. The Centre has undoubtedly contributed by not releasing funds in time but the numbers demanding work reflect the state's economic plight.

If this is the jobs situation for agriculture that's grown a bit under TMC rule, the real crunch is in industry and services. Reports of closures of industrial units including jute are forming a trend that's led to a slowdown in manufacturing in the past four years compared to the preceding period. Industry has grown by 5.8% compared to 3.5%, but this derives from a growth in construction -flyovers, roads -and in unregistered manufacturing. Both are low paying, seasonal and uncertain jobs.