CII gave seven suggestions to the Center for employment generation
New Delhi| The government may announce several measures to boost job creation in the 2025-26 budget to be presented on February 1. Large-scale job creation is critical to making youth productive and promoting inclusive growth in the world’s most populous country. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has given seven suggestions to the government to generate more employment in the country.
India is the most populous country with 145 crore, CII said in its suggestions on Sunday. It is also a young country with an average age of 29 years and 133 million people are due to be added to its working population by 2050. In such a situation, there is a need for an integrated national employment policy, support to labor-intensive sectors and establishment of an international transport authority, among other targeted measures, to harness India’s demographic dividend.
There has also been advocacy to increase women’s participation in the workforce. For this, new initiatives can be taken by formalizing areas like hostel construction and care economy using corporate social responsibility funds.
The government may consider starting internship programs in government offices in rural areas for college-educated youth, CII said in its suggestion. This initiative will create short-term employment opportunities in government offices while bridging the gap between education and vocational skills. This will help the rural economy. The internship scheme will also help in increasing the manpower resources available for effective implementation of various programs and government initiatives designed for the development of rural areas.
These are seven suggestions
1. An integrated national employment policy
2. Support to labor-intensive sectors
3. Establishment of an international transport authority
4. Starting internship program in government offices
5. To introduce a new provision in place of Section 80JJAA of the Income Tax Law
6. Hostel construction from Corporate Social Responsibility Fund
7. Formalization of care economy, formation of expert committee to increase productivity
It has also been suggested to introduce a new provision replacing section 80JJAA of the Income Tax Law to promote new employment. The new provision should continue as a Chapter VIA deduction from gross total income, which is also available on the taxpayer’s behalf when opting for a concessional tax regime.
Integrated National Employment Policy
The Confederation of Indian Industry has suggested an integrated national employment policy. This may include various employment generation schemes currently being implemented by various Ministries/States.
Additionally, the integrated policy can also be based on a single integrated employment portal-National Career Service (NCS). In this, all the data can be taken from various ministries and state portals.
Attention will also have to be paid to increasing productivity
CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said, along with increasing employment, India will also have to emphasize on increasing productivity. India’s incremental capital output ratio (ICOR) needs to be brought down from its current level of 4.1. We need to set standards to measure this. In fact, an expert committee could be set up to study this in more detail in the 2025-26 budget and recommend further measures.
