Jubilee Post News & Views
Utkarsh Sinha
There is no doubt that situation is bad. Powerful nations who took pride upon nuclear weapons are shattered with the virus attack and to such an extent that life is standing still.
As PM Narendra Modi has extended lockdown till May 3 the big question now is how would half of the population survive? It is a good gesture of the government that financial help is being sent to the needy and labours via their bank accounts. This is one way of offering help. But if you wish to see a little farther you may realise the picture in the coming days might be grim.
At present the weaker section is appearing in trouble. Daily wagers, who have walked miles to reach home after losing their jobs. factories are closed and workers are sitting idle.
Let’s see what experts say:
The report from International Labour Organisation (ILO) is suggesting dangerand according to its report the unorganized sector in the country might face trouble in the coming days. This will be a shock for the work force at the basic level. About 90% of the country’s workforce belongs to this sector.
Another matter to ponder is post lockdown the job sector might become even tough and the situation may become harrowing as due to the coronavirus the construction and production industry has been hit hard. The way to come out of the infection scare too is narrow.
The ILO has commented about India that due to prolonged period of lockdown the unorganized sector of the workforce may face a decisive challenge. The industry body CII has accepted that if sectors such as tourism and hotel business take time till October for recovery then half of the units may close down. And as a result about two crore jobs may be lost. This is not the story only of service or hotel industry but in other sectors also the conditions are fragile.
A recently report says the number of people with jobs in India prior to the lockdown was 40 crore and about 3.5 were jobless. But after the lockdown started 28.5 crore could remain in job in a week time. This means about 12 crore lost work.
Now its turn of middle class
India’s growth is ascertained with the growth of middle class. The private sector had expanded with a change that took place some 30 years before. This gave birth to a new class called the middle class who enjoyed jobs outside homes. As a result business such as hotels, tourism came up and the new India started living a new life. But as the problem is new so will be the results impactful.
Financial journalist Anshuman Tiwari says aviation, hotels, cab, real estate, sectors will be effected the most and if so happens the jobs will also be reduced. The impact will also be upon global business. If the consumers have less to spend then consumption will also go down and also the inclination to savings will go up. The result will be less cash flow in the market. If the middle class who is living under bank loans goes weak then bank will also be effected.
At the front are doctors and bio-scientists who are trying to control the virus spread and are doing it at a war footing. The next responsibility will be upon economists. Unfortunately India has a weak front on this aspect.
From ministry to Niti Ayog all lack economists and the government is at present inclining towards the economic policies of the Manmohan government. This had fixed income schemes for the people in rural areas. There seems no other way.
ILO says in the period of 75 years this is the biggest exam of cooperation. Even if one country fails it will be failure of all. Hence it is required that the international community gets united. Governments too will have to fight it. To provide better living conditions to its people is the big responsibility of all governments.
But what will happen when the middle class comes under this impact? This is the time to make economic front strategy for a month later.
Hope the finance minister is working on it.
