Creating jobs with letters

Nirmal Sandhu

Handing over job letters for routine university placements may give the Punjab Chief Minister a sense of doing something for jobless youth as part of the Congress poll promise but it contributes little towards addressing the real issue of unemployment. Stealing credit for private universities’ work is morally wrong. 

The Chief Minister also uses the taxpayers’ money to tell people what a great job he is doing. Splurging on government image building and personal projection and misplaced credit seeking are known Badal traits that Capt Amarinder Singh may be emulating. Only none of his Cabinet colleagues or advisers has the temerity to tell the CM that unless there is change at the ground level such things won’t do him, the government or the party any good. 

Mere window dressing, when there is little to show as an achievement, does not help. For instance, the then Deputy CM, Sukhbir Badal, organised two investor summits in 2013 and 2015 and media projected industrialists’ “commitments” to invest Rs 63,000 crore and Rs 1.13 lakh crore, respectively, in Punjab. Where is all that? If the Captain has Sukhbir Badal as a role model, he is welcome to that, but his voters won’t appreciate his following the Badals’ political tactics or failed policies that took them to the bottom of the electoral tally. 

An honest first-year appraisal of the government would run something like this: We have closed down 800 rural schools and 1,647 seva kendras and raised taxes, power tariffs and bus fares so that small amounts of debt of a small number of farmers can be waived and free power continued with the hope that farmers would return us to power. Since we have chosen Badal’s politics over Dr Manmohan Singh’s economics, we are unable to pay the power subsidy, forcing PSPCL to restart taking loans. We can’t pay old age pension and shagun nor scholarships to poor students, nor contribute our share of smart city projects and we are taking loans to pay salaries. 

 A year later the Congress government has yet to decide where to start to reverse the trend of Punjab trailing the nation in economic growth. By adding the loan waiver and cheaper power for industry to the list of Badal-era subsidies the government has complicated its own — and Punjab’s — problems. Banks have become over-cautious in lending and there is little state spending for capital formation. A sense of disenchantment is creeping in. 

It is perhaps time to get real and talk straight, and work on a credible development plan, backed by sufficient budgetary allocation. People may appreciate honest official effort to achieve whatever little is possible with limited resources. False hopes raised through the filling of job/loan forms have turned into anger, which is still manageable with earnest initiatives.

First lost to militancy and then falling prey to drugs, youth in Punjab need special care. If any more proof of the extent of unemployment in the state is required, it comes from Bathinda, where 6,000 youth, including postgraduates and engineers, have applied for nine posts of peon. Tackling joblessness of course is not easy in a state where almost every institution is broke and every economic sector in disarray.  

Given Punjabis’ excellence in sports, this area requires attention. A post of DSP for an outstanding cricketer or wrestler may be a good gesture but both Harmanpreet Kaur and Navjot Kaur would be wasted in a police job. National and international sportspersons can be given pay and perks matching their achievement but their services should be used for nurturing and inspiring fresh talent. Cuba pays performance-based regular salary to its sportspersons till the age of retirement and pension thereafter for life but uses them only for coaching newcomers. Community and NRI resources can be mobilised to build stadia instead of multiple gurdwaras, separate cremation grounds and entry gates. Sports can bridge social divides religion has created.   

Punjab over-invests in college education and under-invests in technical training. As a result, it over-produces graduates, postgraduates and PhDs, leaving academically average students and dropouts to their fate. In today’s evolving society ruled by social media, education cannot stop at the age of 25 or 30. Regardless of age, people must have facilities for learning, relearning and updating skills. Existing educational institution infrastructure can be used as these are closed in the afternoon. A cell in a university can track jobs available nationally and internationally and guide private and public institutions to prepare manpower accordingly.

Germany, Singapore and Switzerland restrict entry to higher education to the really deserving and the pursuit of technical skills is the most preferred option after schooling. Punjab and other states can make the switch without requiring excessive additional funding. 

 In market-driven economies the state’s role changes — from a provider to a facilitator, one that builds linkages to connect educational institutions with markets, agriculture with industry and small/medium units with large companies. The small can grow big by following world-class corporate practices, regular training, constant improvement and technology upgrade. 

The government will have to resist lobbies for incentivising unviable, dying industries and instead make limited resources available for handholding promising startups and those that are thriving, follow the laws, pay their taxes and respect the environment. 

Subsidies alone do not attract private investment. Industrialists also look for efficient, technology-driven, corruption-free, non-interfering governance as well as livable cities. In fact, chaotic cities with creaky infrastructure often drive away investment and jobs as Punjab experienced over the years.

Apart from slow or negative growth, agriculture suffers from massive under-employment. A shift to other occupations is the need of the hour. Private investment can be encouraged with tax breaks to offer skill development during the transition. Punjab’s existing marketing arrangement helps middlemen and arhtiyas thrive. Opening up to direct corporate buying of farm produce is hampered by a law that is not being changed for fear of loss of revenue. 

There is no sense of urgency to prepare Punjab for change. Continuing the status quo suits the political class. Enthusiasm, palpable at the very first Punjab Cabinet meeting where in three hours some 100 decisions were taken, has got dissipated. It is back to policy tinkering with the larger picture remaining unchanged. 

Age is perhaps a factor. A year ago an 89-year-old vacated the driver’s seat for a 75-year-old in a state bubbling with youthful energy. Fresh thinking or a new way of problem-solving requires a leadership open to new ideas and change. We live in a very fast-changing world of knowledge and technology,  but we continue to rely on yesterday’s leaders for solutions to today’s and tomorrow’s problems. 

[email protected]