The most difficult thing is to begin. I considered two seemingly unrelated ideas for the first post on CL – Shark Tank India and the ongoing RRB-NTPC protests. But the more I thought about them, the more apparent it became that they were both identical. They spoke of Livelihoods.
These past few weeks, like many fellow Indians, I have also been binge watching Shark Tank India. The quirky pitches, the banter among the young sharks, the confidence of entrepreneurs — all make for good television. The valuations are astonishing but so are the revenue numbers and of course the margins. The chase for the disposable income of Indians is perplexing.
It is an honest exposé of the ‘new’ world of business, where the entrepreneur is the sutradhar for consumers. They influence our choices through clever use of technology and psychology to ensure that the cash registers keep ringing. An urban, upper middle class upbringing is evident in most pitches. Though at the heart of it, the show captures the dominant trend of a booming start-up ecosystem, it clearly indicating the birth of a ‘new’ private sector.
On the other hand, the protests against the Railway Recruitment Board and NTPC underscore the importance of government employment. The tussle for government jobs is not new. Indian Railways received over 1 crore applications for about 35,000 posts in the Group C and D categories last year. Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo in their book “Good Economics for Hard Times” note that the wage differentials between private and public sectors, especially at entry level explains the scramble for government employment. In addition, job security and perks are welcome too.
Beyond economic, there is social capital that comes with a government job such as the respect that it commands. The sense of purpose at work comes built in with a government job. This concept is gaining rapid currency in the corporate world. No wonder then the Railway Minister has instituted a committee to enquire into the grievances raised by the candidates.
On the start-up front, the DPIIT recognises a total of 50,000 start-ups with an employment potential of about 11 employees per start-up, translating into creation of about 5.5 lac jobs in the past five years. On the other hand, as per the Minister for Personnel, the Government has made around 4.4 lac candidates through the UPSC, SSC and RRB in the same period. However, entry barriers into both these employment streams are much different. Whereas the private sector demands soft-skills beyond technical knowledge, the government jobs focus largely on technical aptitude accounting for diversity amongst applicants.
What do these developments mean for the demographic dividend? The youth is an asset to the nation only if harnessed well. Over 80 % of the workforce is in the informal sector, bereft of social security, wage guarantee or any such benefits. This leads to creation of what sociologists call – the precariat class. Can start-ups aid in reducing the precariousness that comes with gig work? Or self employment should be promoted by harnessing the ecosystem?
India at 75 has a huge opportunity at hand. The livelihoods issue can be solved by greater investment in social security network – insurance, health coverage and education coupled with economic reforms which promote equitables growth. Even as the new private sector takes flight, the role of the government becomes even more pertinent to ensure maximum welfare for all. Therefore in this light, the upcoming Budget 2022 acquires an added importance.