Make right to work fundamental: CPI-M

Voicing deep concern at the "alarming" unemployment situation in the country, the Communist Party of India-Marxist has demanded that right to work be made a fundamental right and that unemployment allowance be paid to the jobless.

In a resolution passed at the ongoing 21st Congress of the party here on Friday, the party said high unemployment was the outcome of more than 30 years of economic reforms, seriously threatening the future of millions of Indian youth.

It called for removing the ban on recruitment in various central and state government departments and public sector enterprises, stopping the abolition of vacant posts and filling of all vacancies within a prescribed time frame.

The resolution also demanded a halt to outsourcing of jobs in government departments and public sector enterprises.

It feels that the policy being pushed by the Modi government will not solve the problem.

"Instead of increasing public investment to ensure the creation of jobs, the government is relying entirely on the organised private sector, and corporations, domestic and foreign, to invest in India and create jobs," said the resolution.

It pointed out that similar policies followed by the UPA government did not create commensurate employment opportunities, but on the contrary the situation worsened.

In another resolution on Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), it condemned the policy of the Modi government to dilute and ultimately eliminate the legal right to 100 days of work on demand in rural India.

The resolution said in spite of all its weaknesses, the MNREGS had a positive impact on rural employment and wages.

"The demand for work projected by the states in their labour budgets (2014-2015) required an allocation of Rs.61,000 crore. Instead, the government allocated just Rs.33,000 crore in the interim budget presented after the Lok Sabha elections. The amount allocated in the 2015-16 budget remains the same," said the resolution.

It pointed out that in 2014-15 only 15.5 percent of households demanding work had got 100 days work, compared to 51.7 percent of households in 2012-13, and 46.6 percent of households in 2013-14. The average number of workdays is now less than 37 days a year, the lowest since the job guarantee act was passed.

It said the Left-led Tripura, where the average number of days of employment was 88 workdays in a year, the highest number in the country and more than double the national average, has suffered cuts and delayed fund transfers.