18TH CPI(M) CONGRESS RESOLUTION

On Growing Unemployment & Right To Work

(Below we publish the final text of the resolution on unemployment, adopted by the 18 th congress of the CPI(M) inApril this year.)

THE 18th congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses serious concern at the alarming rise in unemployment in the country. The congress notes that unemployment situation has been continuously aggravating engulfing every section of the urban and the rural population: men and women, the working class, peasantry, students and youth. The Fund-Bank prescribed neo-liberal economic policies pursued by the successive governments at the centre are killing existing jobs, adding to the gravity of the situation. If all the facets of unemployment, including under-employment, partial employment and seasonal employment are taken together, the actual unemployment figure will zoom several times the official figure, much above the 12 crore mark i.e., more than 25 per cent of the economically active population in the country.

Generation of employment in agriculture in the country has gone down following the agrarian crisis resulting from the cuts in public investment in rural areas, curtailment of rural development expenditures, breakdown of rural extension services and withdrawal of input subsidies; the de-industrialisation resulting from import liberalisation; and the collapse of credit provision to rural producers and the small scale sector are among the principle factors. The small scale sector (SSI) with comparatively much lesser capital investment provides more employment than the capital intensive large industrial units. Now, given the anti-SSI policy of the government, industrial sickness in SSIs has attained the degree of an epidemic. The result is not only a major source of employment is killed but also a huge number of workers are rendered jobless.

It is a well established fact that in the matter of employment generation, the public sector had been playing the major role in our country. However, as a consequence of the anti-public sector policy vigorously pursued by successive governments, huge job losses have aggravated the unemployment problem in the country. In private sector downscaling due to modernisation, merger and retrenchment on account of closure/shifting of industrial units alone have killed lakhs of jobs. The engineering, textile, pharmaceutical and other industries have been affected on a massive scale.

The 18th congress notes that during the BJP-led NDA regime unemployment problem assumed menacing proportion in towns and villages, leading to several  starvation deaths  and suicides. The UPA regime, due to pressure from the Left had, therefore, to incorporate in the Common Minimum Programme the following commitment: “The UPA government will immediately enact a National Employment Guarantee Act. This will provide a legal guarantee for at least 100 days of employment, to begin with on asset creating public works programmes every year at minimum wages for at least one able bodied person in every rural, urban poor and lower middle class household.”

The National Employment Guarantee Bill, introduced in parliament, excludes the urban areas, restricts the rural areas to 150 districts and does not cover all rural poor households even in the designated areas. No definite time frame for implementation of the scheme has been stipulated. The bill imposes several obligations including financial burden on the state governments. Another significant failure of the bill is the omission of making specific provisions for guaranteed employment to women and granting of adequate unemployment allowance to those who are not given any job.

The 18th congress calls upon the Party to organise a massive campaign all over the country jointly with other democratic forces for changes in the bill and to incorporate the following concrete provisions:

1. Extension of coverage to all households, rural and urban poor and lower middle class.

2. Bringing the entire country under coverage within a defined time frame of maximum three years, without leaving the issue to evaluation/decision of the executive.

3. Provision for ensuring employment opportunities, specifically for unemployed women.

4. Provision of guaranteed employment or unemployment allowance at minimum wage rate for a minimum of 100 days to ensure subsistence of the household.

5. Wage rate should in no way be below the national floor level minimum wage.

6. Clear identification of state/district/area wise implementation authorities.

7. The central government should bear the funding of the Employment Guarantee Scheme in entirety, combined with appropriate fiscal measures to put in place a dedicated fund for the same.

8. Incorporate provisions under which the entitled applicants can enforce specific performance of the obligations cast upon the authorities under the legislation. Inclusion of stringent punitive provisions for violation of the act.

The 18th congress firmly believes that the problem of unemployment cannot be completely solved within the framework of the capitalist system. However, it calls upon all the mass organisations to initiate a massive campaign all over the country to force the central government to take urgent steps to enshrine right to work as a fundamental right in the constitution of India.