New India Manifesto –  Chapter 18: National Employment System (NES)

NES

National Employment System is a system that will help India provide 100 per cent employment for people willing to be part of the workforce. Everyone in the labour force above 18 years will get an opportunity to be part of the workforce if they are interested.

One law or one scheme like MGNREGA will not end unemployment in India. NES provides a platform that is a connecting point of various ideas, laws, policies and technologies to employ the entire nation’s labour force.

When we make the foundation of the nation strong, the load-bearing capacity will increase, and it will increase employment. We can create that strong foundation only by fully utilising what we have now and what we can get from others.

Legal Changes that are Compulsorily Required for NES to be Successful

All companies, businesses and shops should compulsorily list their employees in National Employment System. The EAC integration centre will ensure all listings are added to the NES website. In the case of start-ups, businesses such as wood contractors and shops can list the employees as gig employees or daily salary employees. Labour laws will only loosely apply to them, and employers are not required to pay for PF or other benefits in such cases. The government will provide loss of workday insurance mentioned in WPES to all who are part of daily wage employees.

Employees’ payroll should be transferred only via bank account for GST-registered businesses and enforced strictly. In case of violation, there should be strict penalties. An employee can ask for salary again for work if the wage is handed in cash. The law will ensure that the employer will pay again because the employee used a loophole. The employer is the one who has a high probability of breaking the law by paying in cash, so by granting privileges to employees, NES can ensure that the employer might not violate the law. Employers can also connect with the local EAC centre where the job is located and pay employees via it in case of contract jobs at different locations. These legal changes can help to ensure that employers are paying correctly to the employees. Employers can also ensure they use their current account instead of their savings account for the transaction. In the case of paying maid or similar people, cash transactions using a savings account will be allowed with one condition for GST holders, i.e. the payment details are added to the employment code of the employee by the employer using the employer’s employment code.

All businesses in India will file GST returns, and people will file income tax. For poor people, farmers, and construction workers, the government will help to file income tax on their behalf. Employer code and the total amount registered to that code will help identify a person’s total income.

The government will set a minimum salary target for a person every month, which will differ for each state and location. If someone is not crossing that target, the EAC centre will inquire about the reason and report the cause to the appropriate head. Filing income tax and employer codes will help find people earning less than minimum wage.

NES Website

A website will be developed for NES with multiple features, including job listing, EAC login, employee-employer database and payroll details of business and services.

An employment code will be autogenerated for every Aadhar card in India. A person’s bank account and GST number will be attached to the employment code. The person who hires another for a job should compulsorily add salary payment amount details and beneficiary details to the website, even for non-GST businesses and services.

For example, consider a situation in which a maid named A is employed at a home owned by person B. So person B can visit the website, log in using his employment code, and add details of A every month at the time of salary payment. A savings account can be used for maid salary payments, but any payment by a GST-registered individual for GST-registered activity should be from the current account. So, in the previous case, the employment code will work as employer for B, whereas if B is working in an IT company and receiving a salary from that company, the same code will work as the employee code.

The salary details given to A should be added after transferring the amount in case of cash payment in case of non-GST registered activity. The government will promote bank transfer of the amount to the beneficiary. In cash transactions, the payer is responsible for maintaining records. However, the payment details should be added online, even if it is a cash transfer.

Synthesis Research Division of NES

Creating a website and formalising the nation does not automatically create new employment. It is just a structural framework for providing employment opportunities for the nation’s labour force. Websites like LinkedIn and Indeed already connect employers and employees. The NES has more features than such websites, but what empowers NES is the changes introduced in the nation in various sectors for increasing employment opportunities. Income-based data collection and processing are unique to NES ensuring minimum wages for every Indian part of the workforce. The research division will be the connecting point of all sectors of the nation to analyse employment generation, layoffs and wages. 

Four Areas of SRD 

• Sectoral, areawise and topicwise studies
• Creating employment models, general theory development, and revisiting existing theories such as the circular economy.
• Supporting and researching systemic revision and upgradation, which includes creating and updating laws, amendments, codes of conduct, regulations and policy making. It also includes promoting changes in the structural framework, such as introducing bureaucratic individual accountability.
• NES integration which includes accommodating all changes to the NES-regulated websites.

SRD differs from NITI Aayog and similar platforms as it is based on employment generation and is not primarily concerned about cooperative federalism or increasing rank in indexes. All aspects, such as indexes, are considered by SRD only if they can generate employment. They will work in affiliation with NITI Aayog as data collection is easier.

The research division will also create models that will increase employment opportunities. If the division is titled economics division, everything will be learnt from that point of view. Synthesis provides freedom of thought to the researcher where the problem can be studied from different perspectives, and employment is added to solve that problem.

Consider the example of human–wildlife conflict where many people are losing lives daily in India and the only people concerned about humans are those living near forests.

Wild Animals Caging and Internal Buffer Zone Marking

If wild animals enter villages, the villagers should be given the right to kill the animal for self-defence. No case should be filed in the name of the Wildlife Protection Act. Humans should be valued above animal life. 60,000+ people die of snakebites every year in India. More than 35,000 cases of man-wild conflict have been reported in Kerala since 2011, and more than 1200 people have lost their lives since 2011 in Kerala. Culling animals is the last resort to regulate the animal population. It is necessary to control the animal population to accommodate the human population.

Caging animals instead of returning them to the wild or killing them is one way to stop human-wildlife conflict. Inner 0.5 km of forests from forest border should be marked as the internal buffer zone, and dangerous animals entering the internal buffer zone should be caught and transferred to caging facilities. Only this can ensure that people can live peacefully in villages. 

Caging many animals requires zoo-like facilities, and feeding them requires many employees all over India. Laying traps and catching animals also require skilled individuals. A large workforce is needed to run these new facilities and capture animals. It will employ two lakhs+ Indians in addition to the current forest officials under different state departments.

Here employment is not created out of an economic model or to create employment. When there is human-wildlife conflict, people living in border regions live in fear every day. To alleviate their fear, a framework is developed that benefits the people. As part of that framework, job opportunities are created for the framework’s success. Zoo-like facilities built will bring tourism revenue to villages.

Elements and Factors Required for the Success of NES

The success of National Employment System depends on thousands of smaller and larger initiatives taken by the government and private sector. Wild Animals Caging and Internal Buffer Zone Marking is one such initiative. SRD will engage in creating ideas and adopting ideas from external sources and then submitting such ideas to the concerned polity or bureaucratic structure that should initiate action on such ideas.

Some major domains that require intervention to make NES successful include the following. SRD will play a significant role in studying these domains.

A. Ending Red Tape and Creating a Centralised Regulatory Environment for Good Governance.

Bureaucratic Individual Accountability will end the red tape culture in India, and service delivery orientation will shift towards the receiver public instead of the provider bureaucrat. This will increase the ease of doing business and help generate employment.

Integrated Inspection Authorities will help create an organised system that promotes an environment to become a developed nation. 

B. Upgrading the Self-Employment Market

Promoting digitalisation and implementing the following initiatives will boost self-employment job creation and increase business income. 

• Targeted Shared Company will assist in the promotion of worker cooperatives and employee ownership
• Street Vendor Rehabilitation Initiative
• Nationalised Affiliate Marketing System
• Reseller Economic System
• Labour-Trade Unitary Union
• Banking Counter Movement
• Physical Business Digitalisation

Models like Business Transfer Platform will help remove existing roadblocks.

C. Social Equality, Social Harmony and Social Safety Nets

Analysing the following areas is essential for social equality and social harmony.

• Social harmony and community support initiatives 
• Promoting civic engagement and participatory democracy 
• Addressing the root causes of social exclusion and inequality
• Affirmative action programs
• Encouraging job creation in the care economy
• Creation of social safety nets 
• Studying social, political, psychological and economic issues of public

The following models in my work will help in implementing the above areas.

• Social Media Analysis Centres S-MAC’s
• National Integrated Sports and Fitness Centres – NISFC’s
• National Education and Extracurricular Interconnectivity System
• EAC Integration Centre
• Nationalist Secular System for Coexistence of Religions
• National Healthcare System
• Hindu Unification
• Presolve Resolve Support System
• AR Method of Governance

D. Education Reforms and Skill Training

Educational reforms that promote lifelong learning is essential. Policies that promote equal access to education and training should be rolled out, and institutions that deliver them should be developed. The following models can help achieve educational reforms.

• Limitless Collegiate Education
• Degree Restraint Transformation and Open Access Courses
• Part-time jobs via NES for students
• Upskilling and Reskilling Group Employment Model
• Self-Innovation Learning System

E. Farming Sector Reforms

If the following models are implemented in the farming sector, farmer and farm labourer income will increase tremendously.

• EAC Integration Centre 
• WPES subsidy distribution
• National Food Bank of India is increasing food prices for farm produces
• Wild animals and stray animal caging ensure crops are not damaged
• Modern Farming Technology Installation System
• Farm Product Intermediary System
• Farmer Labourer Interactive System
• Agricultural Livestock Transfer System

F. Business Support

SRD should actively engage in the following areas to support businesses 

• Tax incentives 
• Support for small businesses
• Providing financial incentives for innovation
• Export promotion programs
• Foreign direct investment
• Creation of new businesses and industries 
• Promotion of domestic industries and import substitution.
• Creation of labour-intensive industries such as meat processing plants
• Promoting public-private partnerships
• Promoting public procurement policies by supporting local suppliers instead of foreign companies.

When an incentive or tax subsidy is given to a business by the government, SRD will check the benefits for the economy and nation. Employee payroll, business turnover, new employment opportunities and wages to existing employees will be studied from GST, NES and income tax data. If there is no change in one year or there is a downward trend, then such incentives should be reduced or stopped. SRD will study such areas to ensure that government resources are efficiently utilised.

G. Technology 

SRD should actively engage in supporting the development of various technologies.

• Trade and investment should be supported in emerging areas such as nanotechnology, machine learning, artificial intelligence and biotechnology.
• Promoting technological diffusion and technological innovation
• Investment in research and development – immediate results can be made only if significant investment is made in reverse engineering and promoting technology transfer. The acquisition mode does not matter as long as we possess cutting-edge technologies. 
• R and D budget and investment should be result based instead of distribution based on one particular exam or because a person holds a powerful position. 

H. Labour Support

• A code of conduct should be developed for every establishment, including employers.
• Labour unitary unions will promote communication and collaboration between workers, employers, and governments.
• Introducing minimum wage laws and ensuring its success from data collected via National Employment System.
• Wage subsidies via financial incentives will be provided for employers to hire and retain vulnerable people, including older adults. Such targeted interventions for marginalised groups will ensure no one is left out of employment opportunities.
• Labour drafting centres and labour zoning will generate employment for labourers in new places.

I. Rural Employment

• Sustainable tourism
• Business development services in underserved regions
• New mini-urban areas will be developed within rural areas. 

J. Urban Employment

• Urban agriculture
• Decongestion of cities by rural employment will create a labour shortage in cities and continuously generate urban employment.

K. Contract Jobs and Freelancer Jobs

NES will add many single-person contract jobs and crew jobs regularly. Models such as Modern Farming Technology Installation System and National Housing System create millions of jobs as contract jobs and crew jobs.

New models of freelancer jobs will be generated regularly. For example, private detective agencies will be promoted. They can take cold cases and get a bounty for solving such cases. It will open a new job for criminology, psychology, and sociology students. A law will be passed stating that if a person is not surrendering or caught for a severe crime already done within one year of registering an FIR, a bounty will be declared, and the bounty charges will be recovered from the property owned by the perp. Unsolved crimes will also be added to this list. Once this becomes law, private detective agencies can take up these cases and earn money by solving them. Such reforms in the criminal justice system will reduce the crime rate and help maintain law and order in the nation.

Job guarantee program

Income loss from cyclical unemployment, seasonal unemployment and frictional unemployment can be reduced by implementing NPEGS.

L. General Employment Generation Reforms

• Honour Enhancement Employment System
• Progressive taxation
• Managed trade is the application of government intervention to promote mutually beneficial trade for both countries. Promoting such trade with trade deficit nations will help reduce dollar requirements for imports and increase employment for Indians.
• Price manipulation via EAC integration centres will increase the income of farmers and increase employment for agricultural labourers.
• Cultural infusion system

M. Infrastructure Investment

Infrastructure spending is the best way to boost economic activity and increase employment opportunities.

Anti-seasonal Employment

An intermittent employment model will be developed for futuristic projects. These projects should not affect the daily commuting of the public. This model excludes compulsory projects like drinking water, electricity, and other necessary projects. 

Tourism spot development in a secluded spot is an example. A contractor will be hired for such a project and provided payments according to work completed or by advancing the amount. However, there is a restriction for the contractor. The contractor can only work on the projects in stages over 3-5 years, and the plan will be developed accordingly. So, when unemployment increases in other areas, the contractor’s work will commence, and when there is a lot of available work outside, the contractor’s work will be stopped. The work is allowed only for 3-4 months in a year. This model can be called anti-seasonal employment as it provides employment only during off-seasons.

N. Sectoral Shifting

In the long term, it is necessary to reduce the smaller percentage of agricultural labourers and farmers who are getting low income from the agricultural sector and place them in the manufacturing or services sector. Policies and implementation methods need to be developed to enable sectoral shift slowly.

O. Ratio Adjustment Model of Job Creation and Job Reduction

There is an optimal ratio of various public services, and ensuring that ratio will increase employment. On certain occasions, the removal of staff may also be required as part of a cost-cutting exercise. In India, job reduction is needed only in a few areas where people are overstaffed. However, job creation will be higher in India as, in most ratios, India lags behind many countries. The investment will be made in public institutions to improve ratios such as the police-public, pupil-teacher, and doctor-patient ratios. Therefore, to improve the ratio, the infrastructural sector will also get a boost to build public institutions like schools and hospitals.

P. Base to Top Tier Upgradation Model

Construction is the easiest job to create at a targeted location, such as a rural area. 

However, construction can be done in two ways. 

Targeted planned construction project:  If an area is reeling under unemployment or low wages, start a public project such as a school there. The construction sector should generate enough jobs to increase employment opportunities. Then begin a food street, reskilling centre and small targeted shared companies near the school. Building construction is a short-term fix, and the business run at these constructed buildings will deliver stable jobs in the long term.

Unplanned construction project: There is no plan for a school or a hospital in this case. Instead, it is intended for businesses and industries. So skeleton buildings will be constructed with all basic amenities for a particular square feet area. The interiors of such structures will not be designed, and roofings will be raised to meet industrial sector standards. These places are for starting industries very fast if there is an immediate requirement, such as producing a technology that is part of import substitution.

In this model, land development and building construction are part of the foundation and momentum is added by adding services and production later, thereby upgrading the tiers.

Q. Course Correction Approach

Experimenting with change may have negative or positive consequences. However, we must admit our mistakes and move forward by fixing or leaving them. 

Course correction is essential for all significant changes. Basing it entirely on the feedback mechanism is what is happening in India. So, the government will only fix things based on feedback and will not explore the other potential possibilities with change. Course correction should include feedback studies and learning newly unlocked areas resulting from change implementation. When GST was implemented, small business people had to be excluded due to feedback on complexities. However, if Tax Support System were established as a course correction by unlocking a new area, it would have drastically increased GST revenue.

R. Sustainable Environment

Continuous research support, policy support and implementation are required in this field

to save our environment.

• Investments in renewable energy reduce dependence on fossil fuels. 
• Promote energy efficiency retrofitting
• Developing sustainable agriculture
• Introducing efficient waste management
• Development of sustainable and resilient infrastructure

S. Night Economy

Educational institutions like LCE can open 24X7, providing support for open access courses. Different activities, such as gaming events and special shows after midnight, are some starters that can be used to start the night economy. Government should directly request food businesses to extend their working hours. Increasing the working hours of businesses increases shifts in employment and generates additional employment.

T. Increasing Transaction, Interaction and Exchanges Approach.

There is a limit to asking private companies to increase exchanges or employment, as company profitability is its primary objective. That barrier is minimal for public spending for the government, and the central government can change the orientation of various payments and add new services to benefit more people. The government can achieve that because the government has many objectives, such as public welfare and the nation’s welfare, along with a profit mindset. For example, instead of directly transferring cash to a selected few in the pension system, Wallet Payment Exchange System will provide employment and accountability and ensure public welfare for a larger population. So the government should always have an angle while engaging in welfare activities. 

Employment will automatically increase if the government can increase the transaction, interactions and exchanges in public spending. Placement Shift and Employment Augmentation, and all the added features, create this type of employment generation.

U. Age Shift Reallocation, Physical Fitness Reallocation and Layoff Reallocation Employment

SRD arm will actively support these three areas to reduce the damages of job loss.

U1. Age Shift Reallocation Employment

Age shift reallocation of employment is necessary as people must switch some job types after reaching a particular age. However, changing jobs is difficult for people in midlife, and this is where SRD of NES steps in and supports free reskilling of such people, and they are reallocated to new areas.

Consider the example of veterans forced to rejoin the workforce after retiring from the army. They are connected for a significant part of their life to be a part of a disciplined force and must be acclimatised to be part of new jobs.

However, jobs cannot be manufactured in the public sector just to employ people. Employment opportunities in private and public sectors can provide jobs to a significant percentage of them. However, that will only absorb some of the ex-servicemen into the workforce. So, the remaining of them must be reskilled in new areas or skilled in areas they have better knowledge. Creating shooting ranges is one way in which ex-servicemen can be reallocated. 

The next way is to add ex-servicemen to law enforcement agencies. The night economy, where businesses and institutions run 24X7, requires guaranteed public safety. 

Veterans between 40 and 65 should be inducted into law enforcement agencies such as patrolling police force. Once the pension is stopped and replaced by WPES, they must be provided employment. They will not be provided firearms but get tasers and lesser lethal items such as expandable batons for self-protection. Handcuffs will be provided if they meet violent people who need to be restrained.

Patrolling units in the early morning and night is required to ensure that night travel is safe for men and women. Current police forces of various states are highly understaffed and have limited rural penetration. Ex-servicemen will be absorbed into multiple domains that require lesser action. Ensuring drunken people do not drive home in their vehicles and other similar services will be delivered by them. They will be considered an addition to the police force and will be under the regulation of the police force.

The central government is already bearing the pension amount of ex-servicemen. The new job will pay veterans a pay rise and help the government ensure public safety.

The ex-servicemen should be different from the existing police culture. Therefore, they should be trained regularly by an external agency funded by the centre regarding constitutional values and existing laws of the land. Even if the current police force does something shady and illegal, the veterans allotted under each police station should be able to report such issues independently. There should be an additional mechanism to ensure their safety.

U2. Physical Fitness Reallocation Employment

People who met with an accident need to come out of the shock and may require to be placed in a new job type that suits their current condition. So, a support system is necessary to help them transition emotionally, mentally and socially. Later, they must also be skilled in new areas or upskill them to help them earn a living. WFH jobs and jobs with lesser mobility will assist them.

U3. Layoff Reallocation Employment

Some layoffs may be just part of the cost-cutting exercise of the company, and people can find jobs with their skills in public and private companies. However, some layoffs may be brutal due to outdated skills and technologies. When ChatGPT rose, it seriously affected millions of content writers worldwide. Only new ideas are currently valued, and refurbishing existing ideas is no longer valuable, as ChatGPT can do that job. 

Government can expect such layoffs based on technological changes and various socioeconomic aspects. Therefore, there should be a preventive mechanism that slowly shifts people to new areas from existing jobs on a lifeline to avoid sudden shocks in layoffs. Retraining programs should be organised to ensure automation does not create unemployment.

V. Formalisation

Increasing tax revenue for public spending requires the total formalisation of the economy. Implementation of these three will build a strong foundation for NES. 

• EAC Integration Centre
• Land and Building Accounting System
• Tax Support System

Every single business activity or service will be accounted for in the country. SRD will take suggestions from the public and provide ideas to these institutions to ensure tax revenue rises drastically. The formalisation process itself will create employment in crores.

W. Reducing crime rate

Issues like mob violence, violent crimes such as gun violence and financial crimes affect the nation’s progress. Reducing crime can increase employment, and Public Data Analysis Centres are an example.

Police and Law Enforcement Informer Recruitment System: Police and bureaucracy fall on one side of the bridge, and the public falls on the other. Sometimes even if laws are introduced, people continue to break them as the community members normalise law-breaking. Information from the public is necessary to stop tax evasion, financial crimes and many other legal violations. It can happen only if the public is willing to share that information. People from the public will be selected as informers by the police. Only a few within that police station will know that person’s identity. The salary provided to them via NES will be masked to protect their identity.

They are selected not based on exams and only based on local knowledge. They should have a good understanding of places around them, their families and history, and good rapport with neighbours. They will get small monthly payments for providing information aiding the investigation of police and stopping crimes. They can also be connected with tax-related authorities and get regular amounts for reporting tax evasion. The amount provided should be like 5000 rupees per month and not case by case basis. However, if the police feel they need to replace the person, they can do so.

Drugs, tax evasion and lawbreakers can be caught only if community members come forward to report the crime. If anyone in the police force reveals the informant’s identity, they will be imprisoned. This new system can provide an additional income to 1 lakh individuals all over India. They also help find out black money in illegal transactions, such as real estate black money. In some states, the illicit manufacturing of guns is a cottage industry, and police informers can help police discover illegal activities. SRD will create models like this with multiple benefits or support such models developed by public or external institutions.

X. Inclusive Multi-Contract System

In this contract system, the government has data about different companies that produce the same product and the daily production capacity of those companies. All companies of that product should be registered with GST for a particular product in this system. The central government will fix a price all over India for that product instead of a tender procedure in which the lowest quote is taken. So the tender is provided to everyone producing that item all over India. New producers who want to join the production of that item will not be allowed, and only existing producers will be added. Each company will be asked to produce a particular number of their goods and will be asked to supply it monthly based on their existing total production capacity and the number of companies competing in that field.

Consider the glove manufacturing companies in India. The government will fix the glove price at 40 rupees per glove and provide the companies with thickness and other material requirements via notification. All companies interested in participating at that price and also are GST-registered, then they can apply. If there are 1000 companies, all 1000 companies can apply for it. The government needs to provide two gloves per year to 10 crore farmer households for free, and there is a requirement for 20 crore gloves every year. The government will check the GST revenue created by these companies, statewide requirement and the production capacity to determine the quota of these 1000 companies. So, each company will have different quotas. Now the production cost will be different in each state, and the concerned state government of a company can provide subsidies to its manufacturers by giving away a part of the state’s share of the GST revenue collected from these companies.

Y. Political Will 

Even if SRD creates different ideas or adopts external ideas for the success of NES, if the political machinery is incapable of implementing futuristic decisions, then unemployment will continue. The ruling party should have the political will to make drastic changes. The ruling party should convince the opposition to ensure faster implementation. So, pitching of SRD should be convincing to ensure that changes are implemented quickly.

Conclusion

NES can succeed and deliver employment only if the above models are introduced and areas of concern are addressed nationwide.

Special Note: This is the eighteenth chapter of the book New India Manifesto by Blessen T. Sam. The concepts introduced in this book are unique, and referencing the book and the author is appreciated. Support the hard work of the author to modernise India by purchasing a print copy of the book from Amazon or Flipkart.