2 lakh jobless in Goa

by RAMNATH PAI RAIKAR
Posted on 2009-06-25
PANAJI: The number of unemployed people in Goa presently stands at 2 lakh, that is about 15 per cent of the total population, if we consider that the projected population of Goa in 2009 as per the Census 2001, is 15 lakh.
A preliminary survey carried out by the state industry informs that the number of unemployed people on the live register of the state employment exchange is around 1 lakh, while altogether 75,000 Goans – 50,000 from Gulf countries and 25,000 working as employees with various airline as well as marine companies – have returned to Goa during the past 8 months.
“In addition, there are at least 20,000 unemployed youth who have either not registered themselves
with the employment exchange due to absence of any qualifications or have just passed out from various colleges in the state,” the survey maintains, pointing out that there also exist locals – between 3,000 and 5,000 – who have been retrenched from local industrial units.
A highly placed source in the Goan industrial sector, informed ‘The Navhind Times’ on Wednesday that apart from the people who have returned to Goa from the Gulf countries after losing their jobs, there are quite a few who were sacked by airline and marine companies. “If you take into account the situation wherein the vessels involved in ocean freight and transporting 30,000 containers from oriental countries like Honk Kong and Singapore to Mumbai are now bringing only 10,000 containers, then you will know how serious is the state of affairs,” the source maintained, stating that very large number of Goans were employed on such vessels.
“In fact, the Indian Airlines has increased the number of flights from Dubai to Goa from two to seven per week while the Al-Arabia airline company has introduced new flights on this route,” he stated, “so that they can cater to large number of Goans returning to Goa.”
As per the local people retrenched from their jobs, many of them were also indirectly linked to the government, like say those attached to private contractors working for the Public Works Department or even those in bus bodybuilding units, it was informed.
Observing that the increasing unemployment scenario could have serious repercussions on Goa by cracking its social fabric, the survey further maintained that some of the people who have lost their jobs could suffer from frustration and resort to theft, dacoity or even suicide.
“As for the efforts on the part of the government to salvage this situation, there is neither financial restructuring for industries nor any special economic packages to prevent flights of industrial units outside Goa,” the industrial source said maintaining that on the contrary, the government during past 3 years has only expedited closing of industrial units, thus sending wrong signals to the world.
The sources also informed that the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) has prompted many industrial units in Goa to go for expansion in countries like Thailand, Indonesia and so on. The SAFTA has been motivated by the commitment to strengthen intra-SAARC economic cooperation to maximise the realisation of the region’s potential for trade and development for the benefit of their people, in a spirit of mutual accommodation with full respect for the principles of sovereign equality, independence and territorial integrity of all concerned countries.
Lamenting that the government servants to public ratio in Goa has recently changed from 1:32 to 1:28, due to the haphazard recruitments in government services, the source observed that spending crores of rupees on film festivals do not necessarily create an industrial growth in the state. “Such money is mostly spent on the advertisements, which do not create any economic impact but only results in siphoning of funds,” the source maintained, suggesting that the money instead should have been spent on say, raising tourism infrastructure.
“Goa has no employment drivers in the state, and that is the main problem,” the survey stated, remarking that the state, at this point of time is not creating even 10 engineering jobs.