[Points: What it means—causes—evil effects—what the Government have been doing to meet the situation—your suggestions.]
Unemployment means the state of being without any opportunity of earning one's livelihood. A time was when there was no unemployment. The people lived in villages where they met their simple wants by agriculture or cottage industries. But industrial civilisation brought about a change in the situation. It introduced machines, and as a single machine can do the work of many men, it naturally threw many persons out of employment. No doubt, this industrial civilisation has greatly increased the wants of man and opened up many new opportunities for employment. But this increase in scope for employment has not been able to absorb the men discharged. The rapid increase of popu lation has worsened the situation. This is why the problem of un employment has been getting more and more acute every year.
The evil effect of unemployment is not confined to the economic field only. It destroys the sense of moral values and leads to undesirable activities from a feeling of despair and anger. A society so infected can never prosper in the world. This is why every civilised government looks upon removal of unemployment as one of its primary duties.
The Constitution of our country also has referred to this duty in its Preamble and Directive Principles. The Government of India have already taken in hand various development projects and started many big industries in the public sector. They are also helping industries in the private sector and encouraging cottage and small-scale industries. All these have given employment, direct and indirect, to a good number of people; still the number of men yet unemployed is alarmingly large. And the rapid increase of population has been adding to the difficulty of the situation. This increase has to be checked by family planning; but the general body of our people are yet too ignorant to take advantage of this.
Many are of opinion that industrialisation is no solution to the problem of unemployment, particularly in an overpopulated and backward country like India. So Mahatma Gandhi wanted cottage industries by which the villages would be more or less self sufficient, and every man would do some work and earn h food and clothing thereby.. And I think this is the only way in which the prob lem can be solved in our country.
