IMF study backs Modi, seeks labour market flexibility citing poor female participation rate

The world's powerful bankers, International Monetary Fund (IMF), have now backed the Government of India's "effort" to bring about a major change in the country's labour laws by removing the labour protection provisions, saying it would help reduce "gender gap in Indian labour force participation". In a recent policy paper, it says, increased "labour market flexibility" would lead to "more formal sector jobs, allowing more women, many of whom are working in the informal sector, to be employed in the formal sector."
Released this month, the paper, titled, "Women Workers in India: Why So Few Among So Many?", is authored by Sonali Das, Sonali Jain-Chandra, Kalpana Kochhar, and Naresh Kumar. It was released ahead of IMF managing-director Christine Lagarde's meeting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 16. She called "India a bright spot in the cloudy global economy", and sought a major push in "reforms in subsidy, labour market and monetary policy."
The paper, based on calculations of data from the Government of India's National Sample Survey Organization up to 2011-12, stresses on the need in India for a better Employment Protection Legislation (EPL) index, which is based on a survey of labour market regulations, and is constructed by counting amendments to regulations that are expected to increase labour market flexibility.
It says, "The coefficient of 0.360 on the EPL variable implies that the probability of being in the labor force for women increases by about 3 percentage points when the EPL index increases from 0.5 to 1." It adds, however, "The coefficient on the EPL index is not statistically significant in the male labour force participation regressions, indicating that flexibility does not affect male participation as strongly as it does female participation."

The paper says, its study suggests "how labour market rigidities relate to labour force participation", and why India should implement policies that would lead to "implement to increase female participation." It blames India's "rigid" labour laws for having "one of the lowest female labor force participation (FLFP) rates "among emerging markets and developing countries."
The paper calculates, "At around 33 percent at the national level in 2012, India’s FLFP rate is well below the global average of around 50 percent and East Asia average of around 63 percent. India is the second-most populous country in the world with an estimated 1.26 billion persons at end-2014. Accordingly, a FLFP rate of 33 percent implies that only 125 million of the roughly 380 million working-age Indian females are seeking work or are currently employed."
Lack of labour law flexibility, the paper says, has let to a situation where "India’s gender gap in participation (between males and females) is the one of the widest among G-20 economies at 50 percent."
In fact, it says, "Female labour force participation has been on a declining trend in India, in contrast to most other regions, particularly since 2004/05", insisting, "Drawing more women into the labour force, along with other important structural reforms that could create more jobs, would be a source of future growth for India as it aims to reap the 'demographic dividend' from its large and youthful labor force."

Comments

Dalit rights and political tensions: Why is Mevani at odds with Congress leadership?

While I have known Jignesh Mevani, one of the dozen-odd Congress MLAs from Gujarat, ever since my Gandhinagar days—when he was a young activist aligned with well-known human rights lawyer Mukul Sinha’s organisation, Jan Sangharsh Manch—he became famous following the July 2016 Una Dalit atrocity, in which seven members of a family were brutally assaulted by self-proclaimed cow vigilantes while skinning a dead cow, a traditional occupation among Dalits.

Powering pollution, heating homes: Why are Delhi residents opposing incineration-based waste management

While going through the 50-odd-page report Burning Waste, Warming Cities? Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Incineration and Urban Heat in Delhi , authored by Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran of the well-known advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability, I came across a reference to Sukhdev Vihar — a place where I lived for almost a decade before moving to Moscow in 1986 as the foreign correspondent of the daily Patriot and weekly Link .

Boeing 787 under scrutiny again after Ahmedabad crash: Whistleblower warnings resurface

A heart-wrenching tragedy has taken place in Ahmedabad. As widely reported, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed shortly after taking off from the city’s airport, currently operated by India’s top tycoon, Gautam Adani. The aircraft was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members. As expected, the crash has led to an outpouring of grief across the country. At the same time, there have been demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Civil Aviation Minister.

Global NGO slams India for media clampdown during conflict, downplays Pakistan

A global civil rights group, Civicus has taken strong exception to how critical commentaries during the “recent conflict” with Pakistan were censored in India, with journalists getting “targeted”. I have no quarrel with the Civicus view, as the facts mentioned in it are all true.

Whither SCOPE? Twelve years on, Gujarat’s official English remains frozen in time

While writing my previous blog on how and why Narendra Modi went out of his way to promote English when he was Gujarat chief minister — despite opposition from people in the Sangh Parivar — I came across an interesting write-up by Aakar Patel, a well-known name among journalists and civil society circles.

Remembering Vijay Rupani: A quiet BJP leader who listened beyond party lines

Late evening on June 12, a senior sociologist of Indian origin, who lives in Vienna, asked me a pointed question: Of the 241 persons who died as a result of the devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad the other day, did I know anyone? I had no hesitation in telling her: former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, whom I described to her as "one of the more sensible persons in the BJP leadership."

Why India’s renewable energy sector struggles under 2,735 compliance hurdles

Recently, during a conversation with an industry representative, I was told how easy it is to set up a startup in Singapore compared to India. This gentleman, who had recently visited Singapore, explained that one of the key reasons Indians living in the Southeast Asian nation prefer establishing startups there is because the government is “extremely supportive” when it comes to obtaining clearances. “They don’t want to shift operations to India due to the large number of bureaucratic hurdles,” he remarked.

Guha plans book to counter Dalit, Marxist, and right-wing critics of Gandhi, recalls Modi’s 'pernicious lie' on Patel

Let me first confess: writing about an event three weeks after it has taken place is no good, especially for a newsperson. However, ever since I attended the public lecture by well-known historian Ramachandra Guha on May 18, organised by Sarthak Prakashan for the release of the Gujarati edition of his book monumental book "India After Gandhi", frankly, I kept wondering if he had said anything newsworthy apart from what had already appeared in the media ever since the book's first edition came out in 2007. Call it my inertia or whatever.

Two decades on, hunger still haunts Gujarat: Survey exposes stark gap behind poverty claims

A Niti Aayog report , released about two years ago, estimated that in Gujarat — which our powers-that-be have long considered a model state — 11.66% of people are "multidimensionally poor," a term referring to an index that seeks to estimate "multiple and simultaneous deprivations" at the household level across three macro categories: health, education, and living standards.

Search This Blog