Nov 05 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)
second opinion - Idle India
Jug Suraiya
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We have all the time in the world just to stand and stare
It's a common sight, anywhere in the country. There's been a minor road accident. No one's been hurt. Little damage done to the vehicles involved. No road rage. Nothing dramatic. But a sizeable crowd will collect to see what's happening. Even though nothing is happening.It can be an altercation between two people. Or a couple of workmen digging a hole by the side of the road. Or a pair of street dogs fighting over a scrap of food. The chances are that the non-happening, whatever it is, will draw a crowd of spectators who'll hang around, digging their noses and generally doing time-pass.
“What's this life so full of care, If we have no time to stand and stare,“ goes the old rhyme. In idle India, we seem to have all the time in the world to just stand and stare at the most trivial of things.
Unemployment is a huge economic and social problem in India. But underemployment not enough work to do even for those who are employed is an almost equally big problem.
Take a look at any town or city street in the middle of the working day . You'll see hordes of people, mostly men, generally young, hanging around doing nothing. Not all of them are jobless. It's just that they don't have work enough to do in the time they have to do it. So they loiter about hoping to witness some tamasha or other, which is of no concern to them whatsoever other than helping them to while away an idle moment or hour.
India has one of the largest and lowest paid labour forces in the world. It also has one of the least productive labour forces in the world, with each underemployed worker's output being significantly less than that of the worker's counterpart in any other developing country . Which means that though Indian workers, in the unorganised sector, are among the lowest paid in the world, Indian labour as a whole is expensive as compared with other countries because a larger number of people have to be hired to do a piece of work which could be done by half the number in another society .
Even as the government tackles the problem of unemployment, it should also look at the problem of unproductive underemployment, where so many people have nothing better to do than stand and stare. In idle India, IST doesn't mean Indian Standard Time; it means Indian Staring Time.
“What's this life so full of care, If we have no time to stand and stare,“ goes the old rhyme. In idle India, we seem to have all the time in the world to just stand and stare at the most trivial of things.
Unemployment is a huge economic and social problem in India. But underemployment not enough work to do even for those who are employed is an almost equally big problem.
Take a look at any town or city street in the middle of the working day . You'll see hordes of people, mostly men, generally young, hanging around doing nothing. Not all of them are jobless. It's just that they don't have work enough to do in the time they have to do it. So they loiter about hoping to witness some tamasha or other, which is of no concern to them whatsoever other than helping them to while away an idle moment or hour.
India has one of the largest and lowest paid labour forces in the world. It also has one of the least productive labour forces in the world, with each underemployed worker's output being significantly less than that of the worker's counterpart in any other developing country . Which means that though Indian workers, in the unorganised sector, are among the lowest paid in the world, Indian labour as a whole is expensive as compared with other countries because a larger number of people have to be hired to do a piece of work which could be done by half the number in another society .
Even as the government tackles the problem of unemployment, it should also look at the problem of unproductive underemployment, where so many people have nothing better to do than stand and stare. In idle India, IST doesn't mean Indian Standard Time; it means Indian Staring Time.
