Outlook English - Print Subscribers Copy Outlook English, 30 July 2018 | Page 19

the enrolled employee may well have resulted in a spurt in employees being followed by GST implementation. So
there was no question of expansion. If
been working on a contract basis with enrolled for PF.
“Bulk of the rise in EPF enrolment is nobody lost his or her job, that itself is
the same company, but without any
due to employees who may have been an achievement.”
social security.
The greatest employment creation
Pro-labour reforms have been long regularised on the records,” says Anil
pending with policymakers mostly Bhardwaj of the Federation of Indian has always been in the informal sector,
unw­illing to take on the might of corpo- Micro & Small and Medium Enterprises with the bulk in agro-based sectors.
rate lobbies. In the pre-GST era, an (FISME). “The formalisation of emp­ There is no decline in employment
estimated 2.5 lakh companies were loyment in SMEs has been necessitated generation as such, though one can
suspected to be operating without reg- due to government pressures and poli- question the nature and quality of
istration. “If each of these companies cies putting a check on cash transac- employment.
“Employment figures being put out by
were employing an estimated 10 work- tions and replacing wages in cash to
the government are absolutely fraudu-
ers each, then 25 lakh employees were cheque or e-payments.”
It is in companies that continue to lent and bogus,” says CPI(M) leader and
outside the social security and welfare
schemes for workers,” says Upadhyay. deal in cash transactions that things MP Tapan Kumar Sen, who argues that
“Formalisation in the employment of have not changed much. Many micro the rise in workers coming under social
these 25 lakh people could have spiked enterprises have been created with the security schemes is the result of trade
help of Mudra loans, given by the gov- unions’ pressure on the government.
up the EPFO enrolment.”
Over the past nearly three decades, ernment to encourage entrepreneur- “Unfortunately, the government is using
the labour market has seen considera- ship. The amount varies from Rs 50,000 the social security enrolment to project
that jobs are being created.”
ble changes in the nature of
Sen vouches for data gen-
employment. The changes,
erated by the labour bureau
however, have not always
“Everybody is going by
despite its shortcomings on
been in the interest of
PF data, which was
some fronts. “Among all the
workers, with thousands
never considered
different sources, the lab­
being denied fair terms
important in the past
our bureau figures based on
and kept out of the social
a focused survey of eight
security net. In 1980, the
for tracking jobs.”
labour-intensive sectors is
salaried
structure
of
Vrijesh Upadhyay
the most reliable, despite
emp­loyment underwent
BMS secretary-general
its shortcomings. Acc­
ord­
a major change with the
ing to this data, some 5.5
introduction of contract
lakh jobs have been created
employment.
“Going by the number of
in the eight sectors over
In 1985, the government
Mudra loans given, we
three years—2015-16, 2016-
stopped filling vacancies
17 and 2017-18.”
in Group C and D cadre.
can say for sure that
Prof S. Mahendra Dev,
In fact, the central govern-
many new jobs must
vice-chancellor of the
ment abolished the Class
have been created.”
Indira Gandhi Institute for
IV posts, opting to make
Anil Bhardwaj
Development Research,
ad hoc appointments or
FISME
calls the data “not very rob­
outsource work done by
ust” as the new PF enrol-
employees in those posts.
In effect, all the changes in govern- to Rs 10 lakh. According to official data, ments of old units may have been added
ment as well as private employment 95,85,870 loans totalling Rs 51,095.97 to the total ­number. Among other pos-
saw the growth of contract jobs, which crore had been sanctioned until July 13 sibilities is the shift of an SME unit
by their nature are not long term. Most this year, while Rs 47,009.61 crore had from informal to formal sector due to
companies continue to keep such emp­ been disbursed. Since April 2015, Rs 4.6 its staff strength increasing from 19 to
loyees out of the social security net for lakh crore has been sanctioned for 20. “It is socially desirable to have the
PF and EPF c ­ overage for workers, but
workers. The new data might indicate a 10.38 crore beneficiaries.
positive change for