Quite An Interesting Challenge Awaits Nirmala Sitharaman

Courteous, mild-mannered, and sporting a calmness that one would expect of a person representing a premier designation in the government, Nirmala Sitharaman has all the attributes you’d expect of someone who represents one of the most important positions in the world’s largest democracy.

That Nirmala Sitharaman happens to be India’s Finance Minister is only part of the problem solved. After all, in Nirmala Sitharaman, India has a respected individual who’s studied economics as widely as possible, having graduated in Economics from Seethalakshmi Ramaswami college, obtained a Master of Arts in Economics as well as an M.Phil from the famous JNU, in New Delhi.

The remainder of the problem, critical that it might be, concerns creation of jobs and putting a solution into place that can look after the somewhat deplorable job-crisis scenario in India.

Make no mistake. The challenge confronting the Finance Minister of India is no less arduous than being asked to climb a mountain top without the relevant gear and equipments. After all, what stares Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman, formerly, the Defence Minister during PM Modi’s first term, is a job-crisis that has touched a 45-year high.

In case you were confused as to the ground reality existing in a country that has reached several zeniths in science, medicine, software engineering and computing then here’s what is making news.

The present unemployment rate in India is at a 45-year high; something hitherto less-imagined and an issue that’s rarely been confronted.

Therefore, in that regard, when India’s finance minister readies to present her schemes and ideas; plans and possible remedial measures to the impending and highly-anticipated budget 2019, it can be said for certain that the task challenging Nirmala Sitharaman would expect nothing best but astuteness and great clarity.

Social commentators, researchers, writers, and subject-matter experts have suggested that the current government should definitely focus on measures that boost the job growth. The current situation is taxing and one that seemingly poses a lot of challenges on an economy that, apart from being considered one of the tiger economies in Asia, is one that’s shaped by a strong and vibrant culture of entrepreneurship.

A report that was published in the esteemed India Today magazine, cut no corners in exposing the murkiness of the job-crisis scenario in India while not shying away from drawing a comparison with China. It would state the following:

Official GDP data shows that India is no longer championing economic growth and has even lost its fastest-growing economy tag to China in the last quarter of 2018-19. GDP growth slowed to 5.8 per cent in the first three months of 2019-20, the lowest in the last five years.

In fact, noted industry bodies including Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and FICCI have already explained the correlation between creating jobs and boosting growth.

Given the present economic scenario, it may not be possible for the government to invest large funds towards employment generation, but there are many ways in which it could at least kick off the long-term process.

All that said, here’s what could be the most worrying factor for the current government; one that’s motivated to script a new India rising and shining story:

According to a recent study conducted by the World Bank, India needs to create as many a 8.1 million jobs and that too annually, if it is to achieve its growth targets. So, is Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman ready to enter the ring and box the opponent called unemployment out of the ring?