Employment Crisis In The Pandemic: A Case Study of Telangana Efforts
By: Surge Impact Foundation
Tags: Unemployment, Telangana, Employment, Pandemic, Jobs

There is not a single state or country in the world today that has been left untouched by the troubles of the pandemic. With the entire world facing a lockdown, everything seems to be undergoing a massive change. Economies are crumbling, people are losing their jobs and the governments are finding different ways to cope with the crisis. The Indian state of Telangana too has been adversely affected by the consequences of lockdowns due to Covid-19. In the state alone, over 6 lakh migrant workers remained stranded with nowhere to go due to the lockdown. Thousands of daily wage labourers were also affected in the process. However, a lot of industries took immediate measures to get back on their feet as soon as possible.

In addition to the common challenges that almost every Indian state had to face due to the lockdown, Telangana has some more obstacles in its way. One of these unique challenges is the ongoing returnees from the Gulf countries to Telangana. A newspaper reported that the number of Telangana migrants working in the Gulf countries is around 15 lakhs. Moreover, the very recent developments in the Kuwaiti government’s Expat Quota Bill talk about the repatriation of 8 lakh Indians, one lakh of them are from Telangana. To tackle such a huge population of returnees, the National Academy of Construction has been assigned with the task of reskilling and training these migrants so as to help them integrate into the job markets here, specifically that of construction. One must note that this unforeseen return also comes bearing good news in disguise as returning and settling well here in Telangana would mean a respite from the inhuman conditions that the workers are reported to have faced quite often in the Gulf region.

Government-run Schemes And Initiatives

According to the August 2020 unemployment data of 27 states, Telangana’s unemployment rate is only 5.8%, which is significantly lower than say, that of Haryana, where it is a whopping 33%! In 2018, the Telangana Government had announced the Nirudyoga Bruthi scheme for unemployed youth. With a budget of Rs. 1810 Crores in the FY 2019–20, it promised those unemployed, a monthly sum of Rs. 3016. The primary objective of this scheme was to help the youth work on their skills and enhance them for the market’s needs. The Telangana government acknowledges the fact that a traditional college education does not provide one with up-to-date employability skills. As a result, the students struggle to find a ‘finishing school’ that enables them to be industry-ready. To tackle this growing gap between students’ set of skills and the needs of the market, the Telangana government has created the Telangana Academy for Skills and Knowledge, also known as TASK.

TASK has been extremely proactive in managing the menace of unemployment due to the lockdown. Immediately after the lockdown started, TASK partnered with Coursera to offer 50,000 students professional training in highly lucrative skills such as data science, cloud computing, blockchain, AI and lots more. The courses promoted by TASK usually have a two-month long duration. As of today, over 9,989 youths have been trained through TASK and 5,873 have found a placement over the last five years. Keeping in line with the central government’s Make In India mantra, TASK has also implemented a central government scheme called Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM). Under this scheme, a total of 9,314 students have been trained thus far. To provide the youth with international quality training, TASK also has tie-ups with a German academic institution. It runs a unique program to impact solar tech skills under a project called Skills on Wheels as well.

Alongside, the Telangana Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TWREIS) has introduced the unique concept of vocational colleges for the students passing out from the model residential schools. It has currently introduced 14 vocational colleges with the 1st Armed Forces Preparatory College for Women in the state. Specifically catering to students hailing from marginalised and underprivileged backgrounds, TWREIS vocational and degree colleges for women have enrolled 20,000 girls in the first batch to achieve higher education, thereby overcoming early marriage.

There are a lot more government run schemes and initiatives in Telangana that have been helping the youth find skills and employment. Since it has been observed that the maximum number of unemployed youth is found to be in urban areas, the Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (MEPMA) actively works in this direction. MEPMA has poverty alleviation programmes such as Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana — National Urban Livelihood Mission (DAY-NULM), Vaddi Leni Runalu, and some self-employment programmes as well.

In addition to the above, during the year 2018–19, the Telangana government provided an amount of Rs. 2.45 Crore to around 2,459 Self-Help Groups (SHGs). Some of the major components include the Youth Training Centres (YTC). These are basically 19 state-of-the-art residential skill training centres, constructed at a basic cost of Rs. 3 Crore each. Each YTC is responsible for training a minimum of 500 unemployed youth. While the T-Hub is quite well-known, the government has collaborated with industry players to establish incubation centres to support budding entrepreneurs in districts like Warangal. Speaking of private sector initiatives outside of Hyderabad, the Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) have been established by lead banks in their respective districts. At present, there are 10 RSETIs in Telangana, run by the State Bank of India and Andhra Bank.

The Telangana government has paid special attention to ensure that the schemes reach out to those in dire need of them. In order to do this, they have a special Training, Employment and Placement Scheme which focuses on helping the minority population. Since its inception in 2015, a total of 30,669 unemployed youth has benefitted from this scheme. As part of the scheme, around 10,000 sewing machines and 200 iron boxes have been distributed to the beneficiaries to this date. The government has also created Telangana State Backward Classes Employability, Skill Development and Training Centres to support the unemployed youth coming from the margins of the society. There are 10 training centres in the state that ensure that the unemployed youth from the backward classes get equal opportunities. These centres provide free training to low BC and EBC youth to help them fulfil their aspirations of formal employment. In addition to free coaching, the candidates are also offered book grants, free study material and a stipend.

Suggestions And Recommendations

In our opinion, while all of these initiatives are great, we can immediately implement the following to aid in the overall situation. Firstly, we could work towards streamlining the employment exchange data and maintain a register in real time. The transparency that would emerge out of this could boost a lot of confidence in businesses and help them in meeting their future workforce requirement. Secondly, we might want to work on launching easier ways for both the employers and the prospective employees to find each other. An interesting model for this could be the Maharashtra government’s portal, Maha Jobs. And lastly, we could take inspiration from the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Online Job Fairs and conduct some virtual job fairs in partnership with the Ministry of Skill Development, Employment and Entrepreneurship.