Source :- Directorate of Employment and Craftsmen Training, Assam

            The table given above reveals that number of job seekers registered with employment exchanges which was only 1.9 lakhs in 1975 increased sharply to 3.7 lakhs in 1981 and then to 5.06 lakhs in 1985.The increase in the number of job seekers in 1985 was thus 59.7 per cent over 1981 and 215 per cent over 1975. The total number of vacancies notified to the employment exchanges of the State during 1985 was 12908 against which 6,279 were placed in employment during the year. The number of placements effected as in percentage of total number of job seekers (registered) gradually declined from 3.9 per cent in 1975 to 2.0 percent in 1978 to 1.8 per cent in 1980, and then to 1.0 per cent in 1985. Thus in 1985 5.9 lakhs of job seekers remained unemployed who jointly constituted 99.0 per cent of the total job seekers of the State.

            Thereafter, the State experienced a continuous increase in the number of job seekers as revealed by the employment exchange data, indicating thereby the seriousness of State� growing unemployment problem. The number of job seekers on the live register of employment exchanges of the State has considerably increased to 9.77 lakhs in 1989 and then to 13.56 lakhs in 1991 and finally to 12.96 lakhs in 1996. Between 1989 and 1991, the number of job seekers had increased significantly by 38.8 per cent while between 1994 and 1996; the number had increased by only 0.75 per cent. In 1993, total number of vacancies notified to the employment exchanges of the State was 4766 against which the number of placement was 2799 during the year. Again in 1994, the number of vacancies notified was 4538 against which only 2274 persons were placed in employment during the year. Again the number of placements effected as in percentage of total number of job seekers (registered) gradually declined further to 0.7 per cent in 1989 to 0.3 percent in 1991 and then to only 0.2 per cent in 1994. Thus in 1994, 12.84 lakhs of job seekers remained unemployed who jointly constituted 99.8 percent of the total job seekers of the State. This is an indication of the growing unemployment problem of Assam in recent years. The unemployment statistics reflect only the trend and not the totality of employment and unemployment as all unemployed do not and cannot register themselves with the employment exchanges, which are mostly located in the urban areas.

             Besides, there is a huge extent of under-employment or disguised unemployment existing in the rural areas of the State, which is putting a heavy pressure on the rural economy of the State. The enormity of the problem can be appreciated from the fact that nearly 52.65 per cent of the rural population and 37.67 per cent of the urban population and 51.10 per cent of total population of the State in the year 1977-78 lived below the poverty line. In spite of introducing various poverty alleviation programmes by the Government, the extent of the problem of poverty in Assam remained still grave. As per the Planning Commission�s Expert Group�s estimates of poverty, the percentage of population living below the poverty line in Assam was 39.3 per cent in 1987-88 and as per official estimate the same percentage stood at 22.8 per cent during the same period.

Educated Unemployment in Assam

             In Assam the problem of unemployment has further been accentuated with the joining of increasing number of educated job seekers, including technical and professional personnel in the rank of unemployment from year to year. The following table (no. 12.2) shows that as per the live register of the employment exchanges, the total number of educated job seekers stood at 3.19 lakhs at the end of 1985 as against 1.44 lakhs at the end of 1980 and 0.85 lakhs at the end of 1975. Thus the educated job seekers constitute nearly 54 per cent of the total job seekers on live register in 1985 compared with about 42 per cent in 1980 and about 45 per cent in 1975. Nearly 64 per cent of the educated job seekers in 1985 were Matriculates while Higher Secondary /P.U. Passed job seekers and graduate job seekers accounted for about 20 per cent and 12 per cent respectively.

          In 1994, total number of education job seekers has increased to 7.82 lakhs which constituted nearly 6.8 per cent of the total job seekers registered in the employment exchanges of the State. In 1994, out of the total educated job seekers 62.7 per cent was graduates. Moreover, persons having occupational and technical education but seeking job has increased considerably in 1994. 

Table  No. 12.2

Distribution of job seekers on Live Registers according

to educational qualifications in Assam

 Source :- Directorate of Employment and Craftsmen Training

             The table given above reveals the break-up of number of educated job seekers on live register according to educational qualifications for the last few years.

Remedies

             Unemployment problem is one of the most serious problems of the society. In Assam, the problem has already gathered momentum. Thus the problem should be tackled with sincerity. Effective steps have to be taken in right earnest to arrest the growth of Unemployment� problem. The following are the important long-term and short-term measures that may be adopted for solving problem of Unemployment in Assam.

 Long-term measures:  The following are the elements for solving the problem of               unemployment in the State:

 (i). The present high rate of population growth must be arrested. This can be done by intensifying family planning programme, particularly in the rural areas and also by stopping infiltration of people from the neighouring countries.

(ii). Adequate steps must be taken for rapid economic development of the State, especially through quick and diversified industrialization. This will create new employment opportunities, especially for the educated persons and skilled workers. This will also divert surplus population from agriculture to industries and thus reduce the pressure of rural Unemployment. It should be remembered that labour intensive rather than capital-intensive industries should receive greater priority which have huge employment potential. Thus the problem of Unemployment can only be solved on a permanent basis by rapid industrialization.

(iii). Modernized methods of cultivation should be introduced in the State in order to increase the employment potential of agriculture. Spread of new farm technology will help the State�s economy by raising agricultural productivity.

(iv). The system of education prevalent at present has to be changed thoroughly. The present too much literary educational system be replaced by technical and vocation system to make it production oriented.

(v).  Steps must be taken for introducing network of employment exchanges both in the rural and urban areas of the State. This will increase mobility of labour and reduce Unemployment due to social time-lag.

(vi).  For enlarging the scope of self-employment, liberal institutional finance should be made available. This easy and adequate financial facility will create a great scope for the expansion of employment opportunities. Nationalised banks have started playing an important role in this regard.

(vii). The State Government should introduce the policy of compensatory public work as private enterprise and investment are very poor.

Short-term measures : The following short-term measures may introduced for getting immediate relief :

(i).  For establishing small industries and business special assistance should be provided to individuals and small groups of people of the State.

(ii).  Arrangement should be made for the establishment of work and training camp at places where there is a provision of work opportunities under the plans for example in irrigation, power projects and road construction programmes.

(iii). Training facilities should be arranged in those areas where there is shortage of man-power at present.

(iv). The products of cottage and small-scale industries should be given active encouragement by public authorities through sympathetic stores and purchase policy.

(v).  In the rural and urban areas of the State, a network of industrial States should be spread.

(vi).  National extension programmes should be extended further in the States, which will create huge employment potential.

(vii). Government may take suitable efforts to develop small and cottage industries in the State. Assam has rich potentialities for the growth and development of small and cottage industries which will offer ample employment opportunities to huge number of population of the State as these industries are labour intensive in nature.

Employment Programme Undertaken in Assam through TRYSEM, NREP and JRY

 With the objective of expanding employment avenues in Assam, various schemes such as TRYSEM, NREP, RLEGP, JRY etc. continued to be under implementation in the State. While the TRYSEM programme was introduced in Assam during 1979-80, the NREP started its operations in 1980-81 and that of RLEGP was launched during the latter part of 1983. A new scheme, viz., Jawahar Rojgar Yojana came into existence as a replacement of earlier two schemes of NREP and RLEGP. Besides, keeping in conformity with the central schemes, some other new employment-generating scheme, viz., Prime Minister�s Rojgar Yojana (PMRY), employment Assistance Scheme (EAS) etc. was introduced in the State in recent years.

            The following table shows the generation of employment under TRYSEM, NREP and JRY in Assam in recent years.

Table  No. 12.3

Generation of Employment under

Source : Directorate of Rural Development, Assam.

            The table reveals the generation of employment in Assam under various schemes. It would be better to study the employment generating schemes under the following leads.

            TRYSEM : The National Scheme of Training of Rural Youth for Self-Employment (TRYSEM) is a programme for generating self-employment opportunities by imparting training to the rural youths in various trades and skills. In Assam the State were trained under this scheme in different vocations during 1981-82, as against 1695 youths trained in 1980-81. During 1981-82, 418 scheduled caste and 1075 scheduled tribe youths were trained, under this scheme. However, in comparison to the number of youth trained, the number of trained youths self-employed was not much encouraging. Out of 4253 trained youths in 1981-82, only 1049 were self-employed during the year. The number of youths self-employed during 1991-92 (upto December 1992) stood at 2830 as against the target of 10000 for the year.

             In recent years, under TRYSEM altogether 5055 youth were trained in 1988-89 in various traders, and vocations as against 8681 trained during 1988-89. In 1991-92, the number of youths trained under TRYSEM was 9,152 as against the target of 10,000 youths.

             In 1994-95, under this programme of TRYSEM, 9249 number of youths were trained as against the target of 8050 youths and thereby 114.8 per cent of  the target was realized. In this year 2066 youths were self-employed. 

NREP :  The National Rural Employment Programme (NREP) also aimed at providing employment avenues to the same time. In Assam, this scheme came into operation during the letter part of 1980-80 and laid a target of generating seasonal employment to the tune of about 80 lakh mandays in 1982-83 against which 41 lakh mandays were generated during the year. During the previous year, the target and achievement were of the order of 63 lakh and 53 lakh mandays respectively.

Again in 1987-88 and 1988-89 the state government set a target of generating employment to the extent of 40.6 lakh mandays and 55.9 lakh mandays against which 33.8 lakh mandays and 45.77 lakh mandays were generated respectively.

Assam Employment Assistance Scheme :

 In order to provide self-employment facilities to the educated unemployed of Assam this Assam Employment Assistance Scheme was introduced. Till 1987, various facilities of self-employment was rendered to 8,695 graduates of the State under this scheme.

 Jawahar Rojgar Yojana (JRY) :

             On 28^th April, 1989, the Jawahar Rojgar Yojana (JRY) was introduced in Assam along with other states of the country. Under this scheme, all the previous employment generating schemes like NREP and RLEGP were amalgamated.

            In 1989-90, the number of employment generated under this scheme (JRY) was 105 lakh mandays as against the target of 122.6 lakh mandays. In 1991-92 and 1994-95, total numbers of employments generated under JRY were 124.16 lakh mandays and 260.89 lakh mandays respectively as against the targets of 114.99 lakh mandays and 211.97 lakh mandays respectively. Thus in 191-92 and 1994-95, the percentage of target realized were 108.0 percent and 123.04 per cent respectively. Moreover, during the period 1989-90 to 1994-95, total length of rural road constructed under JRY is about 10,493 kms.

 Prime Minister�s Rojgar Yojana (PMRY) :

            On 2^nd October, 1993, one new employment oriented scheme, popularly known as Prime Minister�s Rojgar Yojana (PMRY) was launched in Assam along with the entire country under the on-going Eighth Plan. The scheme will provide self-employment to one million educated unemployed youths in the country in micro enterprises, manufacturing services and business ventures. The scheme would provide a loan up to a ceiling of Rs. 1 lakh, out of which the subsidy element would be 15 per cent with the ceiling of Rs. 7,500. All those who have undergone Government sponsored technical courses for a minimum duration of six months besides matriculates and ITI diploma holders will be eligible for the scheme.

            Altogether 805 educated unemployment youths in Assam have been selected for training under Prime Minister�s Rojgar Yojana (PMRY) during 1993-94. Since, 1994-95, the Self-employment Scheme for Educated Unemployment Youths (SEEPUY) was included in PMRY. Educated youths of both rural and urban areas are getting benefit from this scheme. Women entrepreneurs are also getting preference under this scheme.

POVERTY

Problem of Poverty in Assam

The Concept of Poverty

 Poverty is a peculiar problem with which the various countries of the world, particularly the Third World, have been suffering. There is no common definition of poverty, which can be broadly, accepted everywhere. Leaving aside all these differences, it can be broadly said that poverty is a situation where a section of the society, having no fault of their own, is denied of even basic necessities of life. In a country or a region, where a big chunk of the population is deprived of even minimum amenities of life for a very long period, the country or the region will then suffer from a vicious circle of poverty. In India, the broadly accepted definition of poverty emphasizes more on minimum level of living rather on reasonable level of living. Thus it is broadly agreed that poverty can be termed as a situation where a section of the population fails to reach a certain minimum consumption standard.

The estimate of that minimum level of living on which the �poverty line� is to be drawn is again based on the idea of necessity of an average intake of 2250 calories per capita per day. After a thorough examination, the study group set up by the Planning Commission in July 1962 recommended a standard of private consumption expenditure of Rs. 20 (at 1960-61 prices) per capita per month as the bare minimum amount common to both rural and urban areas. Various researchers like B.S. Minhas and A. Vaidyunathan also made this study on the basis of this definition. But other researchers like Dandekar and Rath, P.K. Bardhan, Ahluwalia made their study on the basis of their on definition of poverty.

Later on, the �Task Force on Projections of Minimum Needs and Effective Consumption Demand� offered an alternative definition of poverty, which has been adopted by the Planning Commission in recent years. The Task Force defined the poverty line as the mid-point of the capital expenditure class which have a daily calorie intake of 2400 per person in the rural areas and 2100 in the urban areas of the country. Accordingly, the minimum desirable standard was worked out at Rs. 76 for the rural areas at 1979-80 prices.

Incidence of poverty in Assam

 The State�s economy is characterized by long standing poverty. With the increase in the size of population, growth inequality of income and increased price level, the degree of poverty in Assam started to increase as the number of occupations could not grow satisfactorily.

In order to determine the strategy for development, it is quite essential to make an appropriate estimate of incidence of poverty in the state. On the basis of NSS data on consumption expenditure, various estimates of the extent of poverty has been made by Dandekar and Rath., Minhas and other researchers. But due to differences in the concept of poverty, their results vary widely. Let us now discuss the findings of some of these estimates.

Estimates of Dandekar and Rath : Dandekar and Rath in their study �poverty in India� has estimated from the MSS Consumer expenditure data 1960-61 that about 48 per cent of Assam�s population was lying below the poverty line on the basis of minimum nutritional needs. Further the extent of poverty in Assam was aggravated during 1970-71. It has been estimated that the consumer price level in Assam is about 20 per cent higher than the All India level. The poverty line of Rs. 40.00 (as per Planning Commission�s approach document) may be taken correspondingly as Rs 48.00 at Assam prices. Taking Rs. 48.00 as poverty line, it was estimated that the number of persons below the poverty line (BPL), in Assam would be 5.53 lakh (40.14 per cent) and 107.12 lakh (77.38 per cent ) in urban and rural respectively making a total of 112.65 lakh (73.67 per cent )   for the state as a whole.

  Estimates of Seventh Finance Commission :  The seventh Finance Commission in its estimate of poverty in 1978, for the period 1970-71, made an different attempt where it added the per capita private monthly expenditure of the State Government on health, education, sanitation, social welfare etc. to find the per capital monthly expenditure level. The modified per capita expenditures were referred to as �Augmented Poverty Line�. Naturally, the number of persons below the poverty line as per this augmented poverty line in Assam was much smaller due to higher per capita public expenditure of the State on infrastructure. As a result, the proportion of people below the augmented poverty line in Assam was estimated at one 33.0 per cent. This is considered as a gross under-estimate of the problem of poverty in Assam.