Give an account of the Increasing unemployment in India.

Following are the main causes of ever-increasing unemployment in India :

(i) Slow Economic Growth : Indian economy is underdeveloped and the rate of economic growth is very slow. This slow growth rate fails to provide enough employment opportunities to the rising population. Supply of labour is much more than the available employment opportunities.

(ii) Rapid Growth of Population : Constant increase in population has been a grave problem of India. It is one of the main causes of unemployment. Despite the completion of vine Five Year Plans, the number of unemployed has actually increased inspite of decreasing.

(iii) Agriculture : A Seasonal Occupation : Agriculture is so underdeveloped in India that it largely offers seasonal employment. No doubt it is the primary occupation of our country and a large chunk of the population depends upon it, but its seasonal character does not provide work to the farmers all the year round. Most of the farmers remain idle for three to four months in a year. The volume of disguised unemployment is estimated to be nearly 15 percent of the total working population in agriculture.

(iv) Lack of Irrigation Facilities : Despite the completion of Nine Five Year Plans, irrigation facilities could be provided only to 34 percent of agriculture area. For want of irrigation only one crop is grown in a year on the large part of agricultural land. Consequently, the farmers remain unemployed for quite sometime during the year.

(v) Joint Family System : It encourages disguised unemployment. In big families having large businesses, many such persons are found who do not do any work and depend on the joint income of the family. Joint family system is more prevalent in rural areas; hence a high degree of disguised unemployment exists there.

(vi) Decline of Cottage and Small Industries : The industrial development policy adopted by the Britishers adversely affected the artisans working in small and cottage industries. The goods previously produced by these industries are now being produced by large-scale industries. These artisans were, therefore, thrown out of employment. No doubt, after Independence, Government of India has been taken several measures to revive and develop smail-scale and cottage industries, but still these continue to be in distress.

(vii) Low Savings and Investment : There is shortage of capital in India, and even the scarce capital has not been wisely invested. Bulk of the capital has been invested in large scale industries with high capital output ratio needing more capital per unit of output.

(viii) Mobility of Labour : Mobility of labour in India is very low. Owing to their attachment to the family, people generally do not move out to far-off areas even when jobs are available there. Factors like diversity of language, religion and customs also contribute to low mobility. Lesser the mobility, greater the unemployment.

Briefly, whereas low rate of economic growth is generating only limited employment opportunities, high rate of population growth is multiplying the demand for jobs. Consequently, the gulf between the supply of labour and the demand for labour is expanding with millions of people struggling to find jobs for subsistence.