There are many problems before our country today. The problem of unemployment is one of them. It is a serious problem. It implies an involuntary idleness. The individual who has no means of earning his bread by means of labour becomes a nuisance to the society. Unless every one is given work, the problem cannot be solved.
There are many causes of unemployment. The first cause is that the system of our education is defective. Much importance is given to theoretical and literary education. The practical side is almost neglected. The result is that the schools and colleges have become machines producing unemployed persons. When boy comes out of the school, he find himself unemployed. Whenever he goes, he finds the doors closed for him. In the end, he becomes desperate.
Machines are also responsible for unemployment. They have destroyed cottage industries which were a source of income to poor people. The result is that a man gets lesser amount of acres of land than his father used to have. Generally, it is seen that in villages there is no work to do when the farmers are unoccupied.
In order to remove unemployment, our government should do her best; as unemployed citizens generally become a prey to the informal ways of living. The state which cannot provide employment to her people can never claim to be a welfare state.
The system of education should be changed. Emphasis should be laid on the importance of manual labour. Special attention should be paid to technical education. Cottage and small industries should be encouraged and money should be made available to the villagers on a nominal interest to run their industries. Some sort of arrangement should be made so that the landless workers must have some land to cultivate. Import of foreign goods should be stopped and Indian industries should be patronised.
Though our government is fully alive to the problem, yet any immediate solution is nowhere in sight. Unless the problem is solved satisfactorily, all talks of welfare state and Ramraj are meaningless.
