‘I embrace the freedom and flexibility that comes with being self employed’ – Thomas Jefferson
We are very much accustomed with the term ‘Self Employed’. The term, indeed, is becoming more and more inspiring and motivational in the very large domain of appalling unemployment of India, today. What is self-employment? When an individual engages in any economic activity and manages and controls it on his own, it is known as self-employment. There are many persons who engage themselves in self-employment i.e. in some occupation or business which they start or manage on their own. They put their best effort and take all types of risks to pursue their careers successfully. Career can be rightly defined as a way of making one’s livelihood. Self-employment is also a career as one may employ oneself in business or in service activities and earns one’s livelihood. With growing unemployment and lack of adequate job opportunities, self-employment has become very significant and important. It has an enormous utility in the present pretext of our country.
A remarkable slowdown in the growth of jobs has been one of the key concerns in contemporary India. Indeed, India has been suffering from acute and chronic unemployment problem for decades. This menace has been increasing day by day. Many of the people are partially or seasonally employed in both urban and rural areas. The number of educated unemployed is increasing by leaps and bounce. Moreover for the last few decades the women have also been smiting on the door of unemployment almost with equal temperament to men. It worsen the crisis. Eventually an unwanted, acute frustration looms large among the youth. In this appalling situation self-employment can be an elixir.
Of late, we are crying aloud on ‘Shinning India’, ‘Digital India’ etc. But it is fact that despite India has the world’s tenth-largest economy by nominal gross domestic product (GDP) and third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP), the development project in India is nowhere near complete – indeed it has barely begun. It is still a poor country where per capita income remains below $2,000 at actual exchange rates. There is still widespread destitution also. Development is supposed to involve rapid job creation or employment with more workers in formal employment in large units, but that is hardly seen so far in this country.
Since early 2000s, there is a rapid “jobless growth” in India. Presently fifty-one per cent of Indians are self-employed, according to the key indicators. In case of rural areas, it is 54.2 percent. The percentage of self-employed rural women is higher at 56 percent compared to 54 percent in rural men. The latest survey probed the employment scenario under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), points out the degree of joblessness among the marginal and small farmers and landless people. Self employed in India was reported at 76.01% in 2020, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources.
Small-scale business has a great role in self-employment. It can be easily started and requires small amount of capital investment. Large scale business brings various problems like huge environmental pollution, development of slums, massive exploitation of workers etc. The self-employment involving activities on a small scale is then definitely a good alternative. In self-employment there is no limit of earning. Here one can use one’s talent to the fullest extent and thereby can get maximum in return. The decision can be taken quickly and conveniently. All these factors act as strong motivators for self-employment. The spirit of entrepreneurship can be developed through Self-employment undoubtedly. An entrepreneur tries to innovate new products, new methods of production and marketing. As soon as the self-employed person gets innovative and takes risk to expand his or her business, he becomes an entrepreneur. Hence self-employment can be a launching pad for entrepreneurship.
When we work for someone else, we are labouring in another man’s field. Self-employment always speaks for promotion of individual services. Such services are helpful in providing better consumer satisfaction. It provides opportunity for development of creativity and skills in art and craft. It leads to preservation of cultural heritage of India. Consequently, we can see creativity reflected etc. Self-employment provides opportunity of gainful occupation to those who otherwise remain unemployed. Thus it can reduce the enigmatic problem of unemployment. It has also a great role in the socio-economic field of our country. Also it contributes a lot in Indian economy to make it healthier as self-employment programs emerge as an important bridge from unemployment to sustainable economic activity.
Self-employment brings a boon to under-privileged in respect of higher education. It is a hard reality that everyone may not be able to have higher education due to various reasons. Such persons can easily launch their career as self-employed in the fields those require less education and may be a big-shot in the society. there are a plethora of such instances in our society. According to a recent survey, around 51% of Indian workers are self-employed, mostly in rural area. Of the total employed, 46.6 were self-employed. In urban areas the figure is 41%. The survey report also shows that of the total 472.9 million self-employed as recorded in 2012, 234.6 million were men and 104.5 million were women in rural areas and 109.2 million men and 27.3 million women in urban areas.
Self-employment has been given high priority in Government policies and programs. Of late, a good many schemes have been initiated all over the country to encourage entrepreneurship and self-employment. As the statistics show, there is a vibrant growth in self-employment of late. It is largely due to the encouragement of the Government. Many programs on behalf of the Government have been developed over the decades to support self-employment through consulting services, financial resources, research and development etc. This constructive initiatives are really very much noteworthy and have brought a luminous ray of hope in respect of our country. Indeed, when our country is getting strangled day by day without any proper and distinct lineage of employment, self-employment can be a nectar in the hell of unemployment in out country, today. Above all we may remember the very real thought provoking quote of Nick Taylor, “When you work for someone else, you are labouring in another man’s field”.
Reference:
- Self-Employment and its precarity in India – https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/self-employment-and-its-precarity-in-india-3233786
- Increase in self-employed workers: Economic Survey – https://www.thehindu.com/business/budget/increase-in-self-employed-workers-economic-survey/article69165137.ece
- Self-employed workforce rising in India; reflects shift towards entrepreneurship: Eco Survey – https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/self-employed-workforce-rising-in-india-reflects-shift-towards-entrepreneurship-eco-survey/articleshow/117796982.cms?from=mdr
