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Expenditure on social services by Centre and States, as a proportion of GDP was 7.0 per cent during 2016–17 (BE), with education and health sectors accounting for 2.9 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively (as per the RBI). The year 2014–15
in respect of which latest actual figures are available showed a significant decline following a large decrease in actual social sector expenditure of the states.
Employment: The results of the quarterly quick employment surveys in select labour intensive and export-oriented sectors by the Labour Bureau for the period December, 2015 over December, 2014 show that the overall employment increased by 135 thousand. The sectors that contributed to this increase include—IT/BPOs sector, textiles including apparels and metals. Employment, however, declined in gems & jewellery sector, handloom/power-loom sector, leather, automobiles sectors and transport
sector during the same period. Major features regarding employment were as given follows:
• The Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) at the all India level based on usual principal status approach was estimated at 50.3 per cent with the LFPR of females being lower than that for males. There are wide interstate variations in the female LFPR as well. The North Eastern and Southern States, in general, display high female LFPR as compared to low levels in Northern States. As per EUS (employment and unemployment surveys), 2015–16, the unemployment rate for females was higher than that of males across rural and urban areas.
• As per EUS Surveys, employment growth has been sluggish. Further, States that show low unemployment rates also generally rank high in the share of manufacturing. While States compete to seek investment offering incentives, linking incentives to the number of jobs created, sustained efforts need to be considered as a tool to increase employment.
• There is a clear shift in employment to secondary and tertiary sectors from the primary sector—the data between 2011–12 and 2015–16 show the following trend—
(i) Employed persons in the primary sector fell from 52.9 per cent to 46.1 per cent.
(ii) Employed persons in the secondary sector increased from 19.3 per cent to 21.8 per cent.
(iii) Employed persons increased from 27.8 per cent to 32 per cent.
• The growth in employment by category reflects increase in both casual labour and contract workers. This has adverse implications on the level of wages, stability of employment, social security of employees owing to the ‘temporary’ nature of employment. It also indicates preference by employers away from regular/formal employment to circumvent labour laws.
The multiplicity of labour laws and the difficulty in their compliance have been an impediment to the industrial development and employment generation. At present, there are 39 Central labour laws which have been
broadly proposed to be grouped into four or five Labour Codes on functional basis with the enactment of special laws for small manufacturing units. In a major initiative for bringing compliance in the system, catalysing the need of job creation and to ensure ease of doing business while ensuring safety, health and social security of every worker, the Government has put forth a set of labour reform measures.
Education: Low learning outcomes has been a major concern of school education in the country—also pointed out in several studies including ASER, 2014. While there have been improvements in access and retention, the learning outcomes for a majority of children is still a cause of serious concern.
Some of the underlying causes contributing to low quality of education in the primary sector are ‘teacher absenteeism’ and the ‘shortage of professionally qualified teachers’. Though the share of teacher component in total Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) budget has been increasing over the years from 35 per cent in 2011–12 to 59 per cent in 2014–15, teacher absenteeism and the shortage of professionally qualified teachers remain an issue to be addressed.
An option to address teacher absenteeism that can be explored is ‘biometric attendance’ of all teachers in primary. Apart from the biometric attendance being regularly monitored by local communities and parents, it should also be put in public domain. This should be backed by adequate teaching aids, recorded lectures, etc. to fill in for absentee teachers.
Health: India’s health policy aims at an integrated approach to provide accessible, affordable and equitable quality health care to the marginalized and vulnerable sections. The aim of good health and well-being for all as envisaged in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Ensure healthy lives and promote well being for all at all ages should be synchronized with India’s domestic targets to reap the benefits of the ‘demographic dividend’.
The high levels of anaemia prevalent among women in the age group 15– 49 have a direct correlation with high levels of MMR (maternal mortality rate). In Haryana and West Bengal more than 60 per cent of women suffer from anaemia. Under the National Health Mission, Government of India has programmes to address the issue of anaemia through health and nutrition
education to promote dietary diversification, inclusion of iron foliate rich food as well as food items that promote iron absorption.
Inclusive growth: It is the vision of the Government to have an inclusive society in which equal opportunities are provided for the growth and development of all sections of the population including the marginalised, vulnerable and weaker sections to lead productive, safe and dignified lives. Accordingly, programmes have been initiated by the government towards attaining the objective of inclusive society like the Accessible India Campaign.
The government has various schemes meant for the “economic and social empowerment” of people belonging to the minority communities—the Nai Roshni scheme for leadership development of minority women; Padho Pardesh, a scheme of interest subsidy on educational loans for overseas studies for the students belonging to the minority communities; for skill development and economic empowerment of minorities, schemes like Seekho Aur Kamao (Learn & Earn), Upgrading Skill and Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development (USTTAD) and to provide education and skill training to the youth from minority communities the Nai Manzil.