A majority of Rajya Sabha members on Friday supported a resolution for bringing out an employment guarantee law namely Shaheed Bhagat Singh National Employment Guarantee Act to deal with joblessness among educated youth.
Besides, the resolution moved by CPI member Binoy Viswam in the House also urged the government to constitute a joint parliamentary committee to discuss the issue with stakeholders and present a comprehensive report on the current situation of employment in the country and suggestion to address the matter.
Moving the resolution, Viswam said in the Upper House,"Unemployment is the gravest problem of the day. The government has come with a promise to create two crore jobs but now government tells youth to sell pakoras and jalebis."
Highlighting the demand for assessing the current situation, he told the House that government data says unemployment was 6.1 per in 2017-18, while a think tank CMIE claimed that joblessness was 13.2 per cent.
Therefore, he urged the House "to present a comprehensive and holistic report about the current situation of unemployment among educated citizens in the country and future action plan to address the same".
Besides the resolution also provided to "take steps to constitute a Joint Parliamentary Committee to work with all stakeholders and develop an Employment Guarantee Act aimed at addressing the unemployment crisis among educated youth, which may be called the Shaheed Bhagat Singh National Employment Guarantee Act".
He alleged that government is in favour of cheap labour market for the capitalists.
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He also told that the house that BJP affiliate Bharat Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) has also accused the government of not going in the right direction (to deal with joblessness in the country).
Supporting the resolution, Congress members Kumar Ketkar said that it (the issue) is urgent and needs immediate attention.
He said, "It is a ticking bomb. Unemployment is not a question of economy. It is question of socio-economic growth and culture."
He drew attention of the House towards the era of 1930s to 1950s which was depicted in the movie Godfather in which unemployed youth was lured by mafia.
He also told the House about Maharashtra unemployment guarantee scheme during drought years which later took the shape of Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) in UPA regime.
He was of the view that there is need to create employment where workers get productive work.
Echoing similar views, SP leader's Ram Gopal Yadav demanded 365 days' work under MGNREGA and urged the government to boost agriculture and MSMEs in the country which have huge employment generation potential.
He said, "It is a very comprehensive resolution.. Unemployment creates poverty."
BJP member Satyanarayan Jatiya said,"We have limited resources. It is easy to demand. You thought it is important."
However, he also agreed that there is need to take steps to improve skills to deal with existing unemployment in the country.
He made a case for spending on research and development, and national uniform education system to remove disparities between urban and rural youth.
Supporting the resolution, CPI(M) member K K Ragesh also pitched for employment guarantee scheme and provision for unemployment allowance.
BJD member Amar Patnaik also supported the resolution and urged the government to improve upon the employability of youth saying there a gap between industry requirement and quality of trained professionals in the country.
Supporting the resolution, DMK member T K S Elangovan said that it is responsibility of the government to ensure socio-economic protection of the citizens.
RJD member Manoj Jha also supported the resolution and said that country's economy works wonderfully well for one per cent of the population who are donors and there is no seriousness about others who are just voters.
YSRCP V Vijaysai Reddy also participated in the debate acknowledging high rate of joblessness in the country.
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