A nation to achieve its sustainable development has to engage in
activities which would promote the empowerment of the citizens, by taking up
measures and policies that will satisfy the diversified public. To quote
Manmohan Singh, “In a country where employment opportunities are not growing
fast enough, the fear of change tends to be very acuteâ€. Employment being one of
such activities by which the state has to look seriously into, is in its, unfair
modes of generation and provision. The decreasing rate of illiteracy and the
awareness on the need of education as an important source of employment in the
modern society has brought in various changes in structural governance of the
sector in India. The paper has made all its efforts to share the instances of
the government not being transparent in the generation and provision of
employment.
Introduction:
The urge for job has left none in our society. People
are ready to take role as persons who are not fit to serve the purpose of the
work. Designation is considered as a word which enables an individual to live in
a society with all comforts. In simple terms, people are categorised into rich
and poor, powerful and weak, famous and unknown as such wherein the former is
provided with all benefits. The agencies of government is more keen in enacting
and enforcing laws and assisting the wealthy in promoting and providing with
resources that would enrich them still more greater, leaving the backward and
disadvantaged in more worse conditions of employment and self–employment. The
legal reforms on employment available exist, just eyewash for the audience. Thus
the legislative acts in force as and when amended by the law makers are still a
backlog. The point that this paper would wish to explain in the contemporary
period is that, there is lack of transparency in enforcing the schemes and
opportunities of employment generation and provision by the agencies, boards and
commissions which are directly and indirectly involved in fulfilment of the
need of millions of job seekers in India. This work would also whistleblow the
instances of corruption and illegal practices of employment and unethical
records of employment (against the principle of natural justice and violative of
the Constitution of India [i]) in State and National Portals of government of
India.
Is Employment The Generic Need?
Historically the Indus Valley Civilization period marked
the era of well planned organizational structure, which included efficient
employment to be the most important factor. To quoteJohn Ruskin,
“Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effortâ€.
The political actions taken by the Indian parliament as well as the state
legislatures with regard to the vacancies in the administrative organ should be
effective so as to have a good welfare state. The state has a generic need to
employ eligible persons in the posts applicable to his qualifications and
efficiency. Due to geographical factors such as population growth, diversity of
state and their associated tongues the state is in need to setup employment
agencies for the efficient administration and progress of the functions of the
government. The state has an obligation in adhering to decisions taken by the
boards, commissions and bringing into force all such schemes and programmes set
up by the parliament then and thereof. The state should be clear and explanatory
in their policy decisions with regard to employment when they come into rule.
Advanced technological and creative environment in government sectors has
contributed to the easy and accurate process involving service to the public.
But the thurst involved in employment generation and provision are still in
affirmation due to factors such as communication, industrialization, health and
hygiene, and the advanced methods of scientific research and most importantly
wealth. Thus, the state is indebted to the public in forecasting the sustainable
development of the economy in India and the growth of the nation in terms of
resources (human / material).
Role of Boards and Commissions
Article 320 of the Constitution of India lays down
provisions for the set up of union and state public service commissions and
duties and responsibilities thereof. The very reason for the setup of various
boards, commissions and agencies for employment was to ease the complexities
prevalent in employment generation and provision, to have record of vacancies in
their specially designated posts and to conduct recruitments in a democratic
manner. The commission has to adhere to,
i. Rules relating to methods of recruitment to civil services and for
civil posts, [ii]
ii. Principles in making promotion and transfers, referring to their
suitability and disciplinary matters,
iii. Mandates imposed, in submitting yearly reports as to the work
done and reasons for act done in case of any discrepancies. [iii]
With this short understanding of what a board or a commission is, this work
would bring into limelight the instances of corrupt or unfair means by which
these rules, principles and mandates are manipulated. To quotePlato,
“Good people don’t need laws to tell them to act responsibly..., while bad
people will find a way around the lawsâ€. [iv]
The law isper seproper but the agencies to which it applies had made them
corrupt and tainted. Recruitment of officers and clerks for civil posts is day
by day decreasing with the increased number of applicants for such posts. No
doubt, political influence has contributed to such a decrease. The agencies are
setup by the parliament by law with a designed framework of members. These
members are selected by an internal process involving interview and appointment
which in its very form biased.
Conducting competitive examinations though mean to be the best way for selecting
eligible persons to posts, still we face corrupt practices of question papers
being leaked, Impersonation, Selective leak of question papers to specific
candidates or through the invigilators in examination halls or by allowing them
to copy from others for making additional pecuniary benefit. To move one step
deep, this paper has found out that question papers in examinations such as SSC
(Staff Selection Commission) CGL, CHSL posts and IBPS (Institute of Banking
Personnel Selection) PO, Clerical posts conduct examinations on different days
with varied set of question papers with ample differences in the difficulty
level. Candidates appearing in some states such as Gujarat, UP, Bihar, West
Bengal have gone through the exams very easily being the question papers so
simple and easy. In Sh. Mandeep vs. Manoj Kumar Tomar [v] (normalisation case)
SSC 2017 Tier Ithe Central Administrative Tribunal disposed of the case being
the OAs being identical.Sudhir Kumar, Chairman of the BSSC was arrested in
connection with allegations of question paper leak recently.
Bribe in Employment
Bribe has grown as a medium of employment today overwhelming
educational qualification, age and gender, yearly registration and renewal of
employment forms in local employment offices is a day to day activity in the
nation through which lakhs of applicants would get benefited but the poor fact
is that they are red taped by the officials in the desks awaiting the applicant
to approach and bribe him.
Thomas, J. in K.C. Sareen vs. C.B.I., Chandigarh
Corruptionby public servants has now reached a monstrous dimension
in India. Unless those tentacles are intercepted and impeded from gripping the
normal and orderly functioning of the public offices, through strong
legislative, executive as well as judicial exercises the corrupt public servants
could even paralyze the functioning of such institutions and thereby hinder the
democratic polity. Proliferation ofcorrupt public servants could garner
momentum to cripple the social orderif such men are allowed to continue to
manage and operate public institutions. [vi]
Victimization of Graduates
I take pride in addressing that the nation which was once in a stage
of illiteracy and ignorance is now trying to compete with that of developed
nations of the world, but this is not due to the effort taken by the leadership
of any person but because of the self interest of each and every individual in
India to form a well –ordered society in which they live in. With the
expectation that graduation would make them part of the public office, they have
got a good recognition for India. This situation is that which compels the
society to witness a life prior to independence soon. The “Make in India†and
all such other schemes that tend to promote foreign merchandise and service make
the commodities and services in Indian markets inferior to that of the former,
where we lag behind in lack of expertise and efficiency in manufacturing as
such. The government has to take effective steps for the development of trade,
machinery and service expertise in India so as to create employment and to
satisfy our needs by self-utilization of resources.
Judiciary in Fair Adjudication of Justice
The judiciary plays a prominent role in taking active decisions
towards the effective implementation of employment schemes and the fair
adjudication of disputes involving biased employment benefits.
It is obligatory on the part of
theGovernmenttoprovidecertain safeguards as a social commitment in the
absence of any such safeguards to the petitioners in the scheme, the petitioners
would lose their employment opportunities in the Government Higher Secondary
Schools permanently on the failure to provide such safeguards in the scheme
which violates Article 21of the Constitution of India. [vii]The Bombay High
Court held that the employment provided under the Scheme is not
formal employment, in as much as employment is provided not because
the Government is in need to employ labour but with a view to secure them the
right to employment [viii] provided under the Constitution.
In some instances the Judiciary is biased as it is also a state organ, with
added disadvantages in not favouring the state in its policies and schemes on
employment, introduced by the government.
National Transparency Portal
The National Portal in India [ix] though seem to exit as a site, but
the records of data on employment generation and provision are not clear and
most of them are in fact malafide and the source by which the data collected are
not true. Refer Table 1, wherein records of employment being granted to a rural
region Jiadhal in which 1796 workers get a wage of Rs.16.54 lakhs per year which
amount to Rs.920 per annum per individual. If data being right I would take into
consideration a moral quest; Does this minimal amount of Rs.920 per individual
satisfy his basic needs for a year, having been responsible to provide his
family with health, shelter, education and food?
Table 1: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005[x]
Location | No of Active workers | Wages in lakhs p/a | Wage per person p/a |
Tamilnadu, Coimbatore, Sulur, Giddampalayam |
375 | 47.64 | 12,704 |
Gujarat, Aravalli, Meghraj, Ghorvada |
343 | 9.33 | 2720 |
Assam, Demaji, Demaji, Jiadhal |
1796 | 16.54 | 920 |
Conclusion
The basic truth that, the legislative, executive and judicial
representatives than being mere part of the organs of the government have to
strongly imbibe in their minds that they are for reason of fact are public
servants who are appointed and remunerated by the public in a democratic way and
is responsible to look into the welfare of them and not to act according to his
discretionary powers which law has provided with. Thus, the state agencies
instead of reviving the methods of employment shall put into practice the fair
and unbiased process of employment generation and provision. Create seats as and
when necessary, instead of waiting to conduct the same examinations for such
posts. The administrators (politicians, public servants and allied agents) are
responsible for the effective implementation of schemes and programmes on
employment that would enable the country to flourish between unending wars and
atrocities by the arbitrators of such.
References
1. Bussell, Jennifer, Corruption and Reform in India: Public Services in
the Digital Age, Cambridge university Press, 2012,Pg 192
2. Mathur, Nayanika, Paper Tiger: Law, Bureaucracy and the Developmental
State in Himalayan India, Cambridge university Press, 2016,Pg 82
3. Nagaraj, R, Growth, Inequality and Social Development in India: Is
Inclusive Growth,UNRISD,Palgrave Macmillan,2012,Pg 39
4. http://employmentnews.gov.in/NewEmp/Home.aspx 10 March 2018
5. https://www.india.gov.in/ 10 March 2018
6. http://www.nrega.nic.in/netnrega/home.aspx 18 February 2018
[i] Constitution of India, 1950 (As modified up to the 1st December, 2007) Art
14, 41, 42.43, 43A.
[ii] Article 320[3] (a), Constitution of India, 1950.
[iii] Aricle323 (1), Constitution of India, 1950).
[iv] A Treasury of Wisdom, Pal, Rohit
[v] CAT , OA 802/2013 on 12.09.2013 and 29.08.2013
[vi] SC, Appeal (crl.) 770 of 2001
[vii] E. Chandravadanam And 4 Others vs. The State Of Tamil Nadu
[viii] Ahmednagar Zilla Shet Majoor vs. State Of Maharashtra,Cit,1985 (2)
BomCR 18, (1986) ILLJ 370 Bom
[ix] https://www.india.gov.in/
[x] Report on 18.02.2018 ,MGNREGA portal
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