India is booming. India is developing...India is really shinning...

You may hear all of

these good sentences anywhere whether in India and anywhere in the World.
But, the Financial and business magazine Forbes has its own say on this matter. It has
warned that India is developing at the risk of jobless growth. The service sector of India
is touching new high but unable to provide employment for the bigger work force
available in the country.

The harsh invasions by the foreign invaders and exploitation of natural resources of India,
the economic status of India was pathetic. Underdevelopment, unemployment, high death
rate, poverty, illiteracy, scarcity of basic amenities like food, shelter were most common
factors of Indian Economy. Many people relied on the ancestral occupations and
traditional modes of earning bread. Specialized services and service industry was
completely non-existent in Indian Economy. The main source of income as well as
occupation was Agriculture only and that too was not productive enough for survival of
total population of country. Heavy population, unemployment, poverty, hunger, and
starvation spreaded like anything. Govt.’s reforms for stopping increasing population
growth and reducing poverty are still not of very good use. As per the 2008’s statistics as
well India is still on 86th Rank in world for the unemployed percentage of total
population. The creation of sustainable livelihoods has become an important factor in this
era of globalization to understand the progress of a nation, especially in India and among
disadvantaged populations. According to a survey conducted by Team Lease Services
under the title ‘India Labor Report 2006‘. India will experience an ‘unemployment
explosion‘by the year 2020 that will hit the Indian economy. This report says that India
will have an unemployment rate of 30 per cent and there would be over 211 million
unemployed in 2020 wherein the total no. of people seeking employment would be 761
million. Unemployment is an acute problem in India. This could be verified by just one
simple example that when India's largest employer, Indian Railways, advertised about
20,000 jobs last year, the response was overwhelming: 600,000 people applied. The rush
for a job that promised just 6,000 rupees ($136) a month led to violence, and even deaths,
in some parts of the world's second most populous nation. Meantime, rising
unemployment is threatening to dent consumer confidence and spending undermining,
India’s economic boom resulting in widespread poverty. This is primarily owing to the
unequal economic growth and formal job growth.

Even after more than 50 years of Independence India still has the world's largest number
of poor people in a single country. It is one of the main problems which have attracted
attention of sociologists and economists Of its nearly 1 billion inhabitants, an estimated
260.3 million are below the poverty line, of which 193.2 million are in the rural areas and
67.1 million are in urban areas. More than 75% of poor people reside in villages. The
poverty level is below 10% in states like Delhi, Goa, and Punjab etc whereas it is below
50% in states like Bihar and Orissa . Our economic development since Independence has
been lopsided . Population is growing at an alarming rate. The size of the Indian family is
relatively bigger averaging at 4.2. The Indian state has undoubtedly failed in its
responsibilities towards its citizens over the last 50 odd years. There is a need for the
state to move out of many areas. The lack of transparency and accountability has
hampered our economic development at all levels. The problem of poverty persists
because of a number of leakages in the system.

Illiteracy spread in India and especially amongst the women folk is another inevitable
reason which leads India to stay behind the development mark. A notable factor is that
Poverty is a main cause for illiteracy resulting in unemployment due the mismatch in
skills between those demanded by employers and those acquired. A door-to-door survey
conducted in 1991 revealed that of the 290,000 illiterate people aged between 9 and 45
years, more than 75 per cent were women. It is inevitable that when this ‘backward’
group has the major responsibility of bringing up future generations the advancement of
society cannot be rapid or take any significant form of development. A changing society
and a developing economy can not make any headway if education, which is one of the
important agents affecting the norms of morality and culture, remains in the hand of
traditionalists who subscribe to a fragmented view of the country’s and the world’s
heritage.

The capacity of leaders to address the issue of Sustainable Livelihood Generation,

eradication of poverty and educating people of country is of great importance. These
qualities are essential for the holistic development of an individual and also for churning
out visionary leaders who are the need of the hour for sustaining the developmental
process.