Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Nov 05, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Nov 05, 2004 |
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Industry & Economy
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Employment `Job guarantee Act will run counter to neo-liberal norms' Our Bureau
Hyderabad , Nov. 4 THE real obstacle to an Employment Guarantee Act (EGA) in the country lies neither in any scarcity of resources nor in the fact that a reasonable and practicable piece of legislation cannot be conceived; it lies in the fact that such an Act would run contrary to the entire direction of neo-liberal reforms, according to Prof. Prabhat Patnaik of the Jawaharlal Nehru University. Delivering the keynote address at a seminar on `Guaranteed Employment for the Rural Poor' here on Thursday, Prof Patnaik said that as EGA would run contrary to the direction of neo-liberal reforms, it would be opposed by all those social classes and groups which stand behind neo-liberalism and, above all, by international finance capital. In the above context, Prof Patnaik pointed out, specific measures of taxation for financing employment guarantee scheme would be opposed, even when the amounts to be raised would hardly pinch. Any attempt to increase the fiscal deficit would also be opposed because "finance capital does not like State activism in matters of employment". Nevertheless, he said, the United Progressive Alliance was so committed to an EGA that the opposition from the finance capital could not take the form of scuttling such an Act altogether. The two-day seminar is being held by the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) as a part of its Foundation Day celebrations Prof Patnaik said that all those who are concerned with the plight of the rural poor should insist that the employment scheme be universally operational within a specified time-horizon, it be fully funded by the Central Government, it avoid tokenism and it does not occasion conflicts with other workers, employees or peasants. "This is the least we can do for the most deprived section of society," he added.
More Stories on : Employment | Andhra Pradesh
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