The Hindu Business Line : Creating jobs

This is with reference to "Wages of Unemployment" (Business Line, May 31). The author has stressed promotion of an economy through the US model of housing, which is observed to have a cascading effect.

The article is silent on the kind of boost the economy can actually achieve in the current situation. In India, farmers do not have even a proper market to sell their produce. Warehouses are few and far between and cold chains even rarer. A farmer cannot think of taking his commodity to a distant market, because his produce perishable.

The author must have delved more on the role of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which has the best potential for job creation, both for the urban and the rural population.

Indians today can make, reinvent and repair quality consumer durables. They can do wonders in growing food if proper institutional support is ensured.

All this can create gainful employment in ever larger numbers. You may not need to invest Rs 3,00,000 to create a job, if there is proper institutional support. Indeed, in the last five years, Indian SMEs have created maximum number of jobs, thanks to the entrepreneurship.

Surojit Mahalanobis

New Delhi

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