Govt wants people to be job creators not job seekers

“In a State like Goa, employment generation will always be an issue. Goans want white coloured jobs and that people have slowly forgotten the concept of ‘dignity of labour”. This is what Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had said in his Independence Day speech. The coalition government now wants its people to be ‘job creators rather than job seekers’   a dream concept of Prime Minister Narendra Modi   ‘Make in India’.

The introduction of the Startup Policy, which aims to make Goa feature among the top 25 destinations for early stage companies in Asia by 2025, is the first major move towards ‘job creators’. 

Creating jobs is one of the biggest challenges facing every country   both developed and developing. State like Goa, where over 65 per cent of the population is in the economically active age group of 18-50 years, unemployment has been the major hurdle in its growth.

The then Bharatiya Janata Party’s key election promise in 2012 was creation of 50,000 jobs over next five years. That project fell far short. Neither through private sector, nor government, was the State able to create the required number of ‘white coloured’ jobs to its people. And the moratorium on recruitment in government sector from November 2016, introduced by then Laxmikant Parsekar-led government made the situation tougher..

BJP’s internal survey, also gave a clear picture of the unhappiness and anger amongst the youth, who continue to remain unemployed. This was despite the fact that the families continue to enjoy the benefits under social welfare schemes like Dayanand Social Security Scheme (DSSS), Griha Aadhar and Laadli Laxmi. 

“We were not able to generate the required job opportunities for the youth, neither in government sector nor in private. Though, the Investment Promotion Board (IPB) approved projects with estimated jobs of over 25,000; but on the ground, these jobs are yet to be provided,” a senior leader from ruling coalition told Herald. 

“Hence, following Prime Minister’s footstep, Government is now focusing on job creators rather than job seekers,” the leader added. 

Goa has reached that stage of the demographic transition wherein more than 65 per cent of the population is in the economically active age group of 18-50 years   commonly referred to as the ‘Demographic Dividend’. For Goa, to tap this dividend it is necessary that the economy is able to generate enough job opportunities to productively absorb this economically active population. 

“The idea behind introducing social welfare schemes was never to create a vote bank or to attract voters. It is not the principle of the party. Our aim was to provide some financial support to the people. Finally, it is public money, which we ensured it goes back to them,” BJP general secretary Sadanand Tanawade said. 

However, he said that, now government want to focus on creating entrepreneurs, who will be creating jobs for others. “Don’t you find this as good initiative? You cannot depend on government for jobs every time. Government is giving you opportunity to be job providers,” Tanawade stated. 

By unveiling the StartUp policy, a startup ecosystem has been created in the State. Through the new policy initiatives which would not only promote startups particularly in the Information Technology sector but also the micro units would be able to graduate faster as small and medium units. 

“Facilitating entrepreneurship, which in turn leads to value creation and job creation, is a governance and a moral imperative which the Government of Goa is unflinchingly committed to,” stated the introduction of the policy, which is set to change the mindset of the youths.

“The idea behind having a start-up policy is to create employment in Goa and stop brain drain from the state. We want our young brains to become entrepreneurs rather than finding a job. We are providing them all the support,” Minister for IT Rohan Khaunte said. 

“The entire focus is on to keep Goans in Goa by providing better opportunities,” he stated. 

The policy’s objective is to provide assistance to the Goan entrepreneurs and local start-ups to create at least 100 successful early stage ventures in the next five years, targeting generation of employment for at least 5,000 Goans. 

“The policy will create an eco-system that makes it easy for Goan students to acquire technical skills required for employability and professional growth in the start-up space,” Khaunte said. 

If this objective is achieved the goal of job realisation through self-employment would be complete as self-employment is the answer to providing jobs to the huge proportion of population in the economically active age group.

“Becoming an entrepreneur rather than finding a job must be the aspiration of young people. We need to encourage students to become job creators and not just job seekers. They should learn to challenge the status quo, take risks and create, as opposed to simply absorb,” former president of Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industries (GCCI) Manguirish Pai Raiker said. 

Raiker explains that to help the start-up sector mature, the government has to ensure several facilitating policies, especially incubation centres. “Unless government create an awareness and required environment, it would be difficult. The government has to take care of doing business several notches higher where setting up and winding up of businesses do not take too much time,” he said.