All Stories

It is states like Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan in the north and the four southern states that have registered the highest growth both in the number of non-agricultural business establishments and in the numbers of those working in them. This emerges clearly from a comparison of the data from the economic censuses of 1998 and 2005.

In terms of growth in the number of such establishments, states like Assam, Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Kerala top the list among the bigger ones. However, in terms of the growth in employment in such establishments, Andhra tops, followed by Haryana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Punjab in that order.

There are smaller states like Jammu & Kashmir or some in the north-east which have even higher growth rates, but given their size the comparison is obviously meaningless.

When it comes to the manufacturing sector, while Tamil Nadu now has the highest number of units, Kerala leads in growth, with the numbers more than doubling. Kerala is followed by Assam, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana, all registering over 60% increase.

The Regional Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies (RCUES) of the All India Institute of Local Self Government would be implementing this project for PCMC. The total project cost is Rs 1.60 crore. The cost will be shared by PCMC and RCUES. PCMC's standing committee has already approved the amount.

PCMC assistant municipal commissioner Sudhir Joshi said, "In addition to giving them houses to live under the SRA schemes, they poor need to be provided with a source of income. Providing them with skilled training in mobile repairing and educating them about the sectors where there are job opportunities do a world of good for them.

They will also be taught how to maintain health and hygiene. Health check up camps will be held and treatment will be given to women suffering from aneamia and children from malnutrition. The main objective is not only to provide houses to the poor but uplift them by making them financially independent and raise their standard of living."

Joshi said, "The cell will play a role of a trainer and facilitator. For example, if a company requires carpenters to repair furniture. The people trained to be carpenters by Urban Poverty Alleviation and Livelihood Cell will bring these people in contact with the company officials. This will go a long way in making people financially independent."

Still, this is better than most markets - 5.5 per cent in the US and 8 per cent in China, for instance - mainly thanks to the talent crunch and rapid growth in many sectors.

"Given the slowdown, companies are being cautious. Average increases will be 7 to15 per cent though top performers will still get 25 to 30 per cent, '' said K. Sudarshan, managing partner (India) for executive search firm EMA Partners International.

HR firm Hewitt Associates, however, estimates average salaries in India rose 15.2 across sectors for 2008-09 in line with the increases last year (15.1 per cent) and better than the year before (14.4 per cent) despite slowdown in many sectors.

``The growth in salaries is due to lack of talent in the market while companies are growing at a fast pace (30 to 35 per cent in telecom, retail). The supply is not keeping pace with the demand. There's a 10 to 15 per cent shortage of talent across various levels,'' said Nitin Sethi, consulting leader, South Asia, Hewitt Associates.

At 15.5 per cent, salaries of people in junior management (up to seven years) rose the fastest, followed by middle management (seven to 12 years) at 15.2 per cent, senior management (12 years+) at 14.5 per cent while salaries of CEOs increased 13.6 per cent.

The disclosure was made under the Right to Information Act and an application seeking the information was moved by the Pratishthan.

As many as 3,03,548 candidates had applied for
employment between 2001 and 2007, of whom 2,74,790 were interviewed and only 16,879 candidates got jobs. As a result, there has been a substantial dip in the number of applications post-2004. The findings also revealed that part-time jobs as well as financial assistance to the educated unemployed had been stopped since 2004.

Bhagwan Nevdekar of Om Pratishthan said the findings were absolutely startling. "The youth have totally lost faith in the government and the way it handles applications. There is clearly a downward trend in the number of applications received by the exchange over the years (see box)," he pointed out.

Nevdekar said these figures were only for Pune district and wondered what the state figures would be like.

The state government used to pay Rs 100 to unemployed graduates while those who had cleared the SSC and HSC examinations used to get Rs 50 per month. In 1995, the state decided to give part-time jobs and Rs 300 to graduates, while SSC and HSC passouts were paid Rs 100 per month. But in 2004, all such assistance was discontinued.

"The part-time jobs in government organisations used to help the youth gain experience, which would further help them in getting jobs at other places. However, the job offer too was subsequently discontinued," said Nevdekar.

The information obtained also revealed that about 46 candidates were recruited at the exchange and about Rs 70,28,472 had been spent on them. Other expenses included buying of stationery, travel allowance and payment of electricity bills and mobile bills.

Nevdekar said that though several companies were acquiring land for SEZs in the region, hardly any opportunities were being created for the local populace. "The government has no control over these companies," he lamented.

Prakash Kadam, deputy collector, EGS, told TOI, "For the first time, families will be provided employment under the NREGS. Till now, only individuals were registered under the scheme."

"Families from 13 talukas of the district have registered for the scheme. Indapur taluka has the highest number of registered families at 10,000, while Haveli taluka has the lowest with 452 registered families. The department initiated various drives such as awareness campaigns, street plays and distribution of handouts to provide information about the NREGS," Kadam said.

Among other things, the members have also sought apt steps by the university administration to check private unaided engineering colleges from flouting the classroom capacity norm, especially in the first-year of engineering studies.

Varsity-senate member B.S. Agarkar, who has moved a resolution for the CPC, likely to be discussed by the UoP senate on March 29, said that most corporates avoid reaching out to colleges in the rural areas. This was due to the timeand-cost factors involved and the uncertainty about not getting the required skill-sets from institutions in rural areas, he added.

MNS activist Shamrao Kalbhor, who started the centre on February 19, said, "We started the centre following complaints of workers' shortage from industrialists in Pimpri Chinchwad and Bhosari MIDC.

"We have put up announcements in local newspapers asking the unemployed Marathi youth to register with our centre. We have also requested the companies to come forward with job offers", he said.

"Over 6,000 unemployed youth and about 150 companies from Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad have registered with us till now. Companies are offering monthly salaries between Rs 3,000 and Rs 10,000. Many of the candidates are SSC/ HSC or ITI passed, who are skilled in jobs like welding, fitting and other trades that were usually done by north Indians," Kalbhor said.

Bapu Katare of Om Enterprises in Talawade said that six north Indian welders and helpers from his workshop fled due to MNS campaign. "We have demanded that the MNS provide us with equally skilled manpower. I am ready to pay them Rs 150 per day", Katare said.

Vaishali Ugale, an executive from HDFC said that her company has placed an order with MNS for graduates in the account opening section. "We will pay a monthly salary of Rs 8,500 and above," she said.

Ratan Pandurang Kamble, an MSc, appreciated the MNS centre. "I have got interview call from a city-based firm through the MNS", he said.

"In the last one month, we have given interview calls to 2,133 candidates. Some are already recruited while some did not join due to less salaries offered by the companies", Kalbhor said.

Kalbhor's colleague Ashok Chougale said, "Initially we faced problems due to our inexperience in running a recruitment cell. But, encouraged with response, we have improved our management skills. Soon, we will upgrade our centre with computers."

Meanwhile, some big corporates have also approached the MNS with job offers. "We need over 500 qualified youth as some companies have demanded engineers, graduates and diploma holders," Kalbhore said.

Online recruitment eclipsed all other recruitment channels, including direct approaches, newspaper ads and `word of mouth', a survey conducted by Kelly Services, a Fortune 500 company offering staffing solutions, said.

As per the survey, 40% respondents found their most recent job online. Twenty-two per cent found job as a result of being directly approached by an employer, 13% through word of mouth, 9% from newspapers, 8% by directly approaching an employer, it said.

Online recruitment was rated the preferred way to find a job, with 78% satisfied with the outcome compared to 54% who opted for the traditional methods.

 According to the survey, only 8% believe that level of education is the best indicator of job suitability, 24% doubted whether their CVs present them in the best possible way and 14% not sure whether they have performed well in job interviews.

The survey sought the views of 115,000 people in 33 countries, including 3,000 from India on various topics, including recruitment.

"Women employees should not be made to work beyond 6.30 pm. Also, no woman employee should be asked to report to duty on public holidays and on her weekly off," says the latest directive issued by the state's general administration wing.

The directive, issued on March 7 and which is on the government's website (www.maharashtra.gov.in), is applicable only to state government offices, not private organisations.

"It has been observed that women employees are made to wait in the office even after office hours. This usually happens during assembly sessions. Women employees of the Mantralaya (Mumbai) and other government departments are asked to wait in office till late in the evening during the assembly sessions," the government directive says.

While a total of 7,230 ex-servicemen were found employment at various state and central government public sector undertakings (PSU) and banks during 2006, the number fell by almost 40 per cent in 2007 when only 4,222 jobs were secured by candidates from that category.

According to ministry of defence papers, the number of new placements for exservicemen in central government PSUs were down from 1,522 in 2006 to 435 in 2007, in state government PSUs from 2,255 in 2006 to 613 in 2007, and in other state government jobs from 3,055 in 2006 to 2,768 in 2007.

Ma Foi Employment Trends Survey (METS), conducted by Ma Foi, one of India's largest HR consultancy firm has predicted a three per cent increase in employment in 2008.

The largest chunk of the new jobs according to the survey would be generated by hospitality sector which is riding high with the tourism boom in the country.

"The Hospitality sector will generate the maximum number of employment in 2008. 426,668 jobs are going to be generated by the Hospitality sector. This sector is closely followed by Health at 295,829 and Education Training & Consultancy at 166,005," says the survey.

It adds that an estimated USD 11.41 billion is expected to be seen in the Hospitality sector in the next two years and that India is likely to have around 40 international hotel brands by 2011.

"The boom in the tourism industry has had a cascading effect on the hospitality sector, which was a result of the increase in the occupancy ratios and average room rates. With the demand continuing to surge, many global hospitality majors have evinced a keen interest in the Indian hospitality sector," says K. Pandia Rajan, Managing Director, Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd.

While, IT and ITES sector continues with high growth in recruitment at 7.3 and 7.2 per cent, the survey says that it is the Health sector which shows the highest growth in recruitment at 8.9 per cent.

The sector is expected to get an investment to the tune of Rs 2,00,000 crore in the near future, GAIL India CMD UD Choubey said.

He was speaking at the inaugural session of the three-day International Business Horizon summit organised by Amity International Business School at Noida in the outskirts of the national capital.

The energy sector is one of the fastest growing fields and would be hiring more number of management graduates, Choubey said.

"The sector is expected to get funds of about Rs 2,00,000 crore in the near term and would help in further development," he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Amity University Pro-Vice Chancellor Gurinder Singh stressed on the qualities needed for a good manager.

The focus of the convention will be on providing training for the new job opportunities in sectors such as BPO, retail and Information Technology. The Shiv Sena-led organisation is expecting an attendance of around 600 people, Ashok Walake, vicepresident of Samiti said.

Walake said that the organisation is working for rights and skill developments of Marathi-speaking people for years. Apart from government jobs, we are also focusing on private sector, as it offer good salaries. With changing job pattern and skill requirement, the organisation will arrange discussions with experts from various fields, he added. The convention will be attended by MP Anand Adsul, MLA Gajanan Kirtikar and deputy mayor of Pune Chandrakant Mokate among others.

Adozen men shovel soil into baskets, carry them a few yards and dump the earth at the head of a new dirt road snaking through a remote Indian village.

It is hard to imagine the road lasting long during the annual monsoon rains and floods which batter this eastern region. This is part of what the government proudly calls its "republic of work", a flagship plan to provide 100 days of employment every year for tens of millions of rural poor, which is running into serious trouble two years after its launch. Critics say much of the work carried out under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is pointless, much of the money stolen and the entire scheme misguided in a country plagued by fractious, weak and often corrupt governance.

Even its supporters say a radical overhaul is needed.

"On the one hand, political leaders parade NREGA as one of the main achievements of this government," the scheme's architects Aruna Roy, Jean Dreze and Nikhil Dey wrote. "On the other hand, the government is doing far too little to face the organizational challenges involved in ensuring that the Act achieves its potential."

Here in India's poorest state, Bihar, where the need to stem mass migration to cities is most pressing, Reuters found the scheme to be virtually nonexistent, condemned by aid agency ActionAid as a "gross failure".

Elsewhere, the plan to guarantee labour to one member of each poor family has been more successful, but is still barely scratching the surface, aid workers and analysts say.

India's most ambitious effort ever to tackle rural poverty, the scheme was described as "historic and revolutionary" by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when launched across one-third of the country on 2 February 2006.

It is central to efforts to spread the benefits of India's booming economy to its innumerable poor, and address the yawning inequality which threatens the very foundations of that boom.

It may also be crucial for the ruling Congress party when national elections are held by mid-2008.

Check out the figures at the recently concluded placement drive for 2007-08 at the CoEP. Of the 60 students from the civil stream, 50 got offers from leading infrastructure and core sector companies like Afcons and HPCL. In all, 86 companies visited the CoEP campus.

"Not long ago, a trend of this sort was unthinkable considering that the civil stream was viewed as dormant vis-avis campus recruitment," said S.A. Meshram, CoEP's associate training and placement officer, while speaking to TOI on Friday.

Infotech (IT), computer and electronic and telecommunication (E&TC) continued to drive the bulk of the demand from companies like Google, Amdocs, Yahoo, Microsoft, HCL and Wipro, among others.

In fact, the highest pay package, at Rs 9.5 lakh per annum, excluding incentives like insurance and stock options, went to a final-year student, who was picked up by software giant Microsoft, said Meshram. Oilfield services major Schlumberger followed closely in offering a Rs 9 lakh pay package to another student from the E&TC stream, he said.

Almost all 650 under-graduate and post-graduate students, who participated in the placement drive, ended up with attractive pay offers. Of these, 276 undergraduate students got dual offers, said Meshram.