In India, we have seen that there have been two clear modes of thought in regards to how India should be governed. The Communist Party of India proposes a platform based on creating a welfare state in India with a collectivized economy while the Bharatiya Janata Party proposes a platform of economic liberalization and sweeping programs to tackle unemployment using that. The purposes of this article are to therefore compare and contrast this, examine the history of unemployment in India and recognize where we are now.
Indian Unemployment: A Tale of Two Sides
Throughout the years, we have seen that India has an unemployment rate which nationally hovers around 2.5%. This accounts for millions of Indians who are out of work and who are not being employed in meaningful work. In hard hit communities like Tripura and Nagaland, this leaves a devastating effect on the community and the regional economy and leaves behind millions of Indians from achieving good wages or providing for their families.
As figure 1 shows, the unemployment rate in India saw major decreases up until 2008 and steadily rose back up until 2013 where it began to fall and a pattern of a major fall manifested in 2016. With all current predictions, the unemployment rate will continue to fall though not by much going into the 2019 year cycle.
If we examine the history behind those numbers, we see a clear pattern emerging behind it all.
Congress went into 2004 with a candidate who promised sweeping economic liberalization and reform on the lines of P. V. Narasimha Rao. As we can see, Unemployment went down under such programs and India began to succeed. Some of this can also be attributed to schemes such as the Highways projects tarted by the previous BJP Government which boosted productivity.
When the INC then began to adopt a model more dedicated towards forming a welfare state, an experiment which has failed since the foundation of India under every INC Government which attempted it, we saw unemployment rise and the financial situation in India began to plummet. We had the chance to grow out of the financial crisis globally and continue India’s track of good progress but the INC squandered their chances and failed Indians there.
Finally, Modi and the BJP came back into power and we can see clearly that unemployment began a steady trend downwards and we can see the effects of employment sweep the streets of India. Modi and the BJP’s unique connection to the working class of India is a factor commonly attributed to their success in this field alongside the continuation of the BJP platform of economic efficiency and economic growth.
Will the Welfare State Succeed on a State Level?
On a state level, a similar scene is painted but seemingly with an even more damming record for the Communist policies which the CPI wishes to implement.
In the state of Tripura, there is a history of rule by the left-front and they have commonly found themselves being run by the INC and the CPI at times when the INC and Left-Front were in positions of power in wider India. From there, that history and those pledges to fix unemployment have actually shown incredibly negative results as the unemployment rate in Tripura remains the highest in India. The only attributing factors of recent falls in unemployment according to expert economists specializing in labour come from the implementation of the Highways program, started in 1999 by a BJP Government, to fix and build new infrastructure in the state alongside recent sweeping anti-corruption measures being taken by the Chief Minister and the Government in place currently in Tripura.
In a state which has seen a large portion of direct intervention and policy implemented by Communist parties in India, Kerala has the third highest unemployment among all the states of India. Communist policies which were implemented throughout Kerala didn’t end up delivering many of the results which were pledged. This is one of the states where the most practical application of Indian Communist policies came into effect and there have been scathing criticisms and data showing a underwhelming effect of Communist policies.
This compares to states like Meghalaya, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh which have engaged in policies of economic liberalization and have some of the lowest unemployment rates throughout all of India.
Conclusion
The conclusion many of our own experts and many of the experts we have contacted in the field shows a clear pattern that Communist policies have not had the same effect as economic liberalization when it comes to tackling unemployment. This means that the CPI will need to introduce some more concrete policies and serious reform if they wish to win over any voters on the key issue of unemployment.
Aryan Narain-Singh, Republic TV
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