: Opinion: The poor need jobs, not doles #IndiaNEWS #News By Arun Sinha One of the strongest pitches of the BJP marketing in recent years has been that the Modi government has given to the poor many

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Opinion: The poor need jobs, not doles #IndiaNEWS #News
By Arun Sinha
One of the strongest pitches of the BJP marketing in recent years has been that the Modi government has given to the poor many times more than any government ever before did. Free rations, a gas connection, a pucca house, drinking water, electricity, a toilet, medical insurance and more — a long list that might make you believe the poor are now living in paradise.
Leave aside the implementation part. With the media and the civil society under severe constraints in the Modi regime and with unfavourable official statistics not allowed in public, we do not have a true picture of how much of these welfare measures actually reached the poor and in what sizes and shapes. But let us assume they all did.
Where’s the Money?
Are these measures enough to remove poverty? A family that gets a gas connection and a free LPG cylinder needs money to buy at least one cylinder every month. A family that gets free or subsidised ration needs cash to fulfil other needs. A family that has got electricity needs money to buy kitchen equipment and a fridge. A family that is entitled to Ayushman Bharat for serious ailments needs money to pay for doctors’ fees and medicines for other ailments.
Where does the family get the money for all that, leaving aside weddings, festival purchases, personal transport and much more? Not from the government. The government does not support the family beyond the welfare handouts. The family has to find the money for itself. The family can do it only if the members of working age are working — and working securely and permanently, because these are growing needs. And the family must keep increasing its income in order to meet the rising costs.
Where are the Jobs?
Are jobs available? The answer is: fewer and fewer. Take Uttar Pradesh, for instance. According to the Centre for Monitoring of Indian Economy, of the total population of 70. 99 million youth in the 15-29 age group in the State, only 12. 17 million (or about 17%) were employed in September-December 2021. For the same period, only 1. 51 million of women out of their total population of 80. 47 million in the age group of 15 years (merely 1. 88%) were employed. It clearly shows that the number of dependents in the average family was high, and that of earning members low. Besides, not all employment means secure, permanent employment. It could be contractual and seasonal, which means months without income.
Instead of creating jobs, the government is giving the poor welfare handouts. Handouts seek to provide a political solution to poverty, not an economic solution. They might help political parties win elections. But they end up failing to lift the poor out of the marshland of poverty.

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