NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has urged trade unions and industry captains to work together to drive India's slowing economy out of the woods after conceding that 'growth is not what we would like it to be.'
Referring to the government's recent decisions to boost investment and improve business sentiment, the prime minister said that there is a need for the central and state governments to work in partnership with the industry and trade unions to strengthen the country's economy by removing bottlenecks that hamper new industrial activity.
Addressing the Indian Labour Conference in the capital on Friday, Singh didn't directly acknowledge the growing labour unrest across India Inc that has led to indefinite lockouts and violent protests in major firms like Maruti SuzukiBSE -1.00 %.
But he did take note of the unprecedented two-day strike called by all central trade unions in February this year and assured employee representatives that a group of ministers under Finance Minister P Chidambaram will go into the 'whole gamut of demands' raised by them and 'some forward movement' can be expected soon.
"The recent two-day strike by trade unions focused on a number of issues relating to the welfare not only of the working-classes but also the people at large. These include demands on which there can be no disagreement," the PM said, referring to the need for concrete measures to curb inflation, create jobs and implement labour laws more effectively.
Singh also sought to change the narrative about job creation that has shrouded his administration. While the government's own manpower research agency has said that the period since 2004 has seen 'jobless growth' in India, Singh said that "according to some available data, we created 20 million additional job opportunities" between 2004-05 and 2009-10.
"The unemployment rate came down from 8.3% to 6.6% during the same period. This period suffered from one of the worst global meltdowns in history and most of the countries, developed and developing, have registered increased in their unemployment rates while we were still able to create additional jobs," Singh said. "Employment in the unorganised sector registered a growth of more than 9% from 26.5 million in 2005 to 29 million in 2011," the PM said. He also asserted that the number of women working in the organised sector has registered a 19% growth, indirectly refuting reports that women's participation in India's labour force had fallen in recent years.
Referring to the government's recent decisions to boost investment and improve business sentiment, the prime minister said that there is a need for the central and state governments to work in partnership with the industry and trade unions to strengthen the country's economy by removing bottlenecks that hamper new industrial activity.
Addressing the Indian Labour Conference in the capital on Friday, Singh didn't directly acknowledge the growing labour unrest across India Inc that has led to indefinite lockouts and violent protests in major firms like Maruti SuzukiBSE -1.00 %.
But he did take note of the unprecedented two-day strike called by all central trade unions in February this year and assured employee representatives that a group of ministers under Finance Minister P Chidambaram will go into the 'whole gamut of demands' raised by them and 'some forward movement' can be expected soon.
"The recent two-day strike by trade unions focused on a number of issues relating to the welfare not only of the working-classes but also the people at large. These include demands on which there can be no disagreement," the PM said, referring to the need for concrete measures to curb inflation, create jobs and implement labour laws more effectively.
Singh also sought to change the narrative about job creation that has shrouded his administration. While the government's own manpower research agency has said that the period since 2004 has seen 'jobless growth' in India, Singh said that "according to some available data, we created 20 million additional job opportunities" between 2004-05 and 2009-10.
"The unemployment rate came down from 8.3% to 6.6% during the same period. This period suffered from one of the worst global meltdowns in history and most of the countries, developed and developing, have registered increased in their unemployment rates while we were still able to create additional jobs," Singh said. "Employment in the unorganised sector registered a growth of more than 9% from 26.5 million in 2005 to 29 million in 2011," the PM said. He also asserted that the number of women working in the organised sector has registered a 19% growth, indirectly refuting reports that women's participation in India's labour force had fallen in recent years.
Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com
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