Mohammad Ayaz Khan

An analysis of self-employment opportunities for marginal workers in urban and suburban India Introduction The Indian Census of 2011 classified workers in India into two broad categories. The first category comprised of those workers who have working opportunities for more than 6 months in a year; these were classified as 'main workers'. The second category known as 'marginal workers' are those who get a chance to work for less than 183 days or 6 months in a year. This classification has existed in the Indian census terminology since the 1981 census. Interestingly as per the census data from 1991 and 2011, it is observed that the percentage growth in marginal workers is higher in India as compared to main workers during the 1991 to 2011 period. It has also been observed that the while during the 1981 to 1991 period the increase of the marginal workers included more female workers, the trend has reversed and more male workers have entered the marginal worker category as compared to females whose percentage has decreased in the- period. The rate of increase in the workforce, overall in India has been more than the population growth rate which shows a higher Work Participation rate. [ CITATION MVe13 \l 1033 ]. This report attempts to analyze the reason behind the huge numbers of marginal workers and why they are unable to find full-time jobs. Their education levels would be examined to find any linkages and the decrease in the female marginal workers among the total marginal worker population in 2011 would also be analyzed. Efforts to support the marginal workers are discussed as well as solutions would be presented throughout the paper and at the end to solve the issue of giving more job opportunities to the marginal workers in India in the urban and suburban areas. - Census Data and ‘Marginal Workers’ The 2011 census data was obtained through Indian census operations conducted during the second phase of the census that took place between 9-28 February 2011 which was related to Population Enumeration. As a part of the census classification, the marginal workers had been divided into two sub-categories: marginal workers who work less than 3 months a year and those who work less than 6 months in a year. The occupation of the marginal workers was determined in the 2011 census was relevant to the type of work the person had done in the one year before the enumeration. As a part of the scope of the census, the 'type of industry, services or trade' as a category for the work was recorded as well besides the person’s occupation. It was preferred that the work 'actually' done by the worker was recorded as such. The marginal workers were classified under ‘House hold Industry’ workers or ‘Other workers’ [ CITATION DAT11 \l 1033 ]. Between 1981 and 2001, the marginal workers' work participation rate was constant in the first ten years but the data in 2001 showed a much larger increase. The female marginal worker participation rate showed a relatively higher increase as compared to male workers during this period. The increase in marginal workers between 2001 and 2011 clearly points to an increase in a business culture that employs on ad hoc basis. Either the companies are trying to cut the labor costs to a minimum or that they are not inclined to offer quality jobs that carry retirement benefits and health insurance, etc. Interestingly, a similar phenomenon is not just confined to India. Even in the USA, the entrepreneurship that are springing up and offering job opportunities to the youth are not offering quality jobs as they are not giving health coverage and retirement benefits. Although these workers in the USA are not marginal workers yet they are deprived of long-term employment benefits. Indian government planning to create 50 million jobs by 2020 The Indian Government has embarked upon a program to create 50 million jobs by 2020 in response to the increase in marginal workers since 2001. Digital solution based jobs would form a good number of these jobs. The rest would be through job fairs. The 50 million jobs target translates to 10,25 million jobs per year on the average between 2017 and 2020. The pressure on the job market would be from both marginal workers as well as non-workers. Data shows that short-term employment is on the increase in India [ CITATION Dip17 \l 1033 ]. Figure 1 Increase in marginal workers and their proportion in total jobs Source: [ CITATION Dip17 \l 1033 ]. Unfortunately, the increase in jobs per year since 2011 has not been sufficient to stem the tide of more workers joining the rank of marginal workers. Figure 2 Increase in jobs created per year (in thousands) since 2011 Source: [ CITATION Dip17 \l 1033 ]. Some government job creation programs have created jobs which marginals workers have also taken benefit of have succeeded in creating just over 1.1 million jobs in the period from 2014 to October 2016. Experts also contend that monetization has affected both urban jobs in India and therefore a sound employment scheme for marginal workers is a necessary requirement. Figure 3 Job creation since 2011 Source: [ CITATION Dip17 \l 1033 ]. Probable Cause of any possible fluctuation in Marginal workers The marginal workforce can also show an increase in case non-participants join them temporarily. This is likely to happen usually when wages in certain urban and suburban areas rise. Thus, if the number of marginal workers shows fluctuations, these are most likely due to temporary participation by non-participants. ILO’s analysis As per the commentary of the International Labor organization on the different labor trends in India, the share of the informal worker (which includes marginal workers going in and out) has increased from 2004 to 2012 the main reason being the use of contract labor and some other ways to employ casual labor to save costs. Thus, the share of informal workers including marginal workers in the economy of India in 2012 stood at around a staggering figure of 92%. This includes both informally organized sector workers plus unorganized sector workers [ CITATION Ada171 \l 1033 ]. Table: 1 Figure 4 Marginal Workers in Urban areas can be approximated as HHI plus others Source: [ CITATION MVe13 \l 1033 ]. Growing capitalist Economy The table shows a huge increase in non-agricultural urban and suburban employment. The marginal workers add another unique dimension to the informal workers. They symbolize irregular and interrupted work with a lot of flexibility. These are strong signs of a growing capitalist economy and the added dimension of worker migration to urban and suburban areas further adds complexity but dynamism to the situation. Findings contrary to the grand theory of development As per the grand theory of development, as labor migrates to cities, the growth of the industry absorbs the workforce and the GDP percentage of non-agricultural sector increases [ CITATION Lew54 \l 1033 ]. However, the trend here exhibits a slower growth in the industrial sector absorption. Even though in India, the non-agricultural sector has grown in leaps and bounds in the last decade, the findings are in total contrast. That shows that there might be something different in the workforce structure [ CITATION Ada171 \l 1033 ]. Experts point out to the rapid changeover to the capital intensiveness of the industrial growth in India in the recent years as compared to the gradual shift from labor intensive to the capital intensive pattern in the west over centuries. Thus, the grand development theory which is based on a European experience might not be fully relevant here. This would greatly reduce the level of industrial labor force adoption and increase unemployment or increase the number of marginal workers. The capital-intensive industry requires highly skilled workforce and the low level of education in India as compared to Western countries seems to be the cause. Employers seek highly skilled workers while employees seek jobs but there seems to be not enough match between the requirement of the two parties [ CITATION Mon13 \l 1033 ]. Ideally, the workforce needs to be trained in skills as fast as the capital-intensive industry is set up but this is easier said than done. One solution can be that the capitalists setting up the industry get the workforce trained themselves while they plan the setup but such an ideal type of long-term investments in human capital related to university education have not been witnessed anywhere in the globe either. If ideally, such an investment was possible, the marginal workforce would be directly affected and a part of it would be converted to /main worker’ status in the long run. Industrialists would be required to allocate huge funds under such a scheme however, the fruits would be plenty in the long run. The selection of the recruits as to who would be trained can simply be based on their IQ, aptitude and basic college education. This is not as simple as it sounds. The industrialists acting as a conglomerate would need to get the university programs revised to include the high skills required for future projects and support the universities with funds to run those programs besides getting their recruits funded for masters and Ph.D. programs in the required fields of expertise. To attempt such a solution which undauntedly would help the industrial sector, in the long run, would be extremely hard to sell to the industrialists but wisdom would prevail if the government can convince them to do this for their own sake and perhaps extend a helping hand by giving them some tax incentives. A ’wrong version’ of Lewis model is developing It can now be understood that in a skill deficiency situation in India, the firms are inclined to go for the capital-intensive option and it is occurring at an early stage of development. Thus, from an economic point of view, the industry would no longer be able to 'absorb' the workers including marginal workers at the required rate. Thus, it proves that a rather 'wrong version' of the Lewis model is developing. On one side, there are (around 7%) highly skilled, highly paid, and high-tech labor working in organized sector and then apart from the rural areas, as this paper does not concentrate on this, there are urban and suburban workers including marginal workers who have low level of skills, low pay, and at times are out of job [ CITATION Ada171 \l 1033 ]. Many would argue that this could be the result of the on-going Indian policy of investing heavily in higher education and neglecting primary education comparatively which has resulted in a top-heavy educational spread. In contrast to this, China had an altogether different policy historically. In fact, it is not just India. Many countries in the world face this type of situation. In many such countries, the number of highly skilled secondary school or university graduates is far less than what the number should be in most of these countries due to a faulty secondary and tertiary education systems [ CITATION Roh09 \l 1033 ]. Many of these low-skilled workers end up as marginal workers. The great education funding debate This gives rise to the million-dollar question of how the education system can be improved in the long term. One great source for education funding could be from philanthropists; both individuals and large corporations or businesses. Experts still argue where such funds need to go. Should they be directed towards providing basic primary education to the population or should they be directed to a selected few at the higher education level to ensure the global competitiveness of the country? Directing towards higher education would mean that at least some would be globally competitive and would be responsible for triggering further educational developments in their communities? or would they? When a small number of highly skilled workers are produced at the cost of basic education to all, would this strategy prove successful in the long term? [ CITATION Roh09 \l 1033 ]. Most marginal workers would be from the class of people that did not receive highly skilled and high-tech education. Female Marginal Workers The new Economic policy of 1991 aimed at increasing female worker participation rate in the Indian economy. The female main worker participation has not been as expected. The female marginal work participation has, however, increased between 2001 and 2011. The position by 2011 is summarized below: Figure 5 State wise Female Marginal Workers Source: [CITATION Ank16 \l 1033 ]. The marginal female worker participation fell during the 2001 to 2011 period mainly due to the attendance at educational institutions: Figure 6 Marginal female workers 5 to 19 years old Source: [ CITATION Ank16 \l 1033 ]. The female marginal workers aged between 20 and 59 are depicted by the graph below: Figure 7 Marginal female workers share 20-59 years’ age group Source: [ CITATION Ank16 \l 1033 ]. Female marginal worker participation has been declining even after the new Economic policy in 1991. The decline occurred in tribal states as well which are traditionally more liberal. It is reported that during 1994 and 2010, less than 19% of the new employment opportunities in the 10 sectors that were growing the fastest were availed by women [ CITATION Bou14 \l 1033 ]. While some would argue that larger educational attendance and increasing household income leads women to participate less in the workforce, research shows that while the 5 to 19 years age group might show reduction due to educational attendance, the reduction in main and marginal female worker participation 20 to 59 year age group is not either due to educational attendance nor due to the increase in household income but seems to be directly related to the introduction of the New Economic policy of 1991 after the introduction of which the employment opportunities for the females have declined. Some of the reasons given by researchers are stiff competition with men on many jobs and the general refusal of women to take jobs that are informal and pay too less. Another reason put forward by researchers is that most of the jobs that are growing in their concerned sectors are male dominated and as such women get discouraged to participate [ CITATION Cho11 \l 1033 ]. Lack of education main hindrance for marginal workers 40% of the marginal workers are illiterate and out of the 55.5 million as counted in the census of 29011, 21.9 million were literate. The next category among the marginal workers was of those who had education below secondary level and their percentage among the marginal workers was 37.6% or 21.6 million in numbers. This data had been released by the Indian Registrar General and Census Commissioner [ CITATION Pra15 \l 1033 ]. The effects of automation in the future on marginal workers Automation which is proceeding at a fast pace in the industrialized world as well as in developing countries would have a direct bearing on the number of marginal workers in the current scenario all over the world if special [planning is not done to accommodate them and convert them to main workers. Al over the world, there are at least 3 economies: China, India, United States and Japan have workers that take up at least 50% of the total wages of at least 67% employees engaged in such jobs that are 'automatable from a technical point of view' using capital-intensive industrial development models that are applicable using existing technologies. Inside each of these countries, the local scenarios would prevail regarding the industrial sector mix as well as the job mix within each of the industrial sector. This is especially true for the industrial sector of manufacturing where the set of activities are quite well defined and predictable. These activities can be easily automated using existing technologies involving Robotics, Artificial Intelligence or even simply through computerized programming. The only Figure 8 For India 41-50% of the industrial employee activity can be automated Source: [ CITATION Mck17 \l 1033 ]. the obstacle that prevents this phenomenon from happening is the low wage rate in many developing countries [ CITATION Mck17 \l 1033 ]. Such large-scale personnel substitution is not possible in India in the near and long term in India as wages would be lower than the capital requirements for automation in most cases, however, the newer industries that are being established using high-tech workers might be doing just that already. If the scenario described above in the figure is played out, there would be a tremendous increase in unemployment and a subsequent increase in marginal workers. However, this scenario is not likely either in the near term or in the long run as the wages in India would restrict the industrialists from taking such decisions. Nonetheless, for the new industries that are being set-up, especially for those that are high-tech and demand highly skilled workers, this scenario can be operative and the low wage earners who would have taken routine jobs might already have been substituted or would get substituted in future projects when these are established. Large scale set up of such high-tech industries would result in further increase in the number of marginal workers. Automation not an immediate threat to marginal workers As automation is not possible in India immediately, here is no direct threat to the marginal workers. except in the high-tech sector which is already using automation or would use for future setups. Many factors would influence the speed of adoption in India. The technical feasibilities would be required first to ensure that such substitutive technologies exist and can be implemented. Then the costs involved would be a major deciding factor. After that, the dynamics of the Indian local labor market would come into play. The level of wages would be a determining factor as human labor would substitute automation. Another factor supporting automation against manual labor would be very high throughputs and premium quality of products produced. Last but not the least, the Indian government regulations on such substitution and their acceptability in the society would be prime factors to consider. Therefore, if all these factors are considered, it can be safely said that it would take decades for all manual activities that can be automated to become automated [ CITATION Mck17 \l 1033 ]. These few decades are the time window which the marginal workers and others would have to take advantage of employment opportunities or train themselves part time in technologies that would be relevant in the future. It would be difficult for persons working less than six months a year to afford extra training courses and therefore, efforts on part of the NGOs and philanthropists would be required, however, none of these can employ the kind of vast resources that the government can employ to train workers in technologies for the future. The Indian government’s recent announcement to create 50 million jobs and a good number of these in the digital technology area is one giant step in that direction. Convert nominally educated marginal worker to high tech or technology trained worker One good way of reducing the marginal workers is to train them in relevant industrial technologies which are in demand in the industries in India at present. Such an education or training program can neither be implemented by the government alone nor by the industrialists and not by any of the NGOs acting alone but perhaps a combined effort by all with contributions from them can help stem the tide of the increase in the marginal worker population. While the industry can help point out their technical job requirements, the NGOs can support the initiative by causing awareness among the marginal workers and the government can perhaps allow training at its country wide training centers in extra shifts or on weekends. Such a combined effort by the industry, NGOs and the government can go a long way in making sure that the marginal workers whose basic problem is a lack of required skills at least have the chance to attain those skills even if the training programs take a long time to complete. The industry can even contribute further by sending its skilled employees as visiting lecturers to support the program and can also arrange factory or plant visits to familiarize the trainees of the kind of technology at work at the industries. Automation must not be feared While simple analysis would dictate, that future long-term automation would cause massive unemployment, the actual results could end up being completely opposite as human services would be required to complement machine activities. It is quite possible that the nature of work would change from routine manufacturing related activities to more sophisticated complementary activities that require more human skills than simple or complex repetitive machine skills [ CITATION Mck17 \l 1033 ]. Keeping such possibilities in mind, the training offered to the marginal employees should not be the type that replaces automation with manual skills but should focus on a human to machine interaction (HCI) and train them in complimentary activities that would be demanded even if automation becomes widespread. This would ensure their survival in the long term for the present-day marginal turned future organized workers. The basic analysis that the researchers and analysts need to do today is to foresee the kind of human complementary activities that would be required in the future along with automation. Orienting the country’s education and training programs overall towards that direction would go a long way in churning out graduates and trained workers who would be absorbed by the industry no matter what is the level of automation employed. As China and India, taken together have over 700 million automatable job equivalents, both these countries need to chalk out a future for employee training on a pattern that would make their countries progress towards automation while assuring the 700 million potential workers (ideally if complete automation takes place) displaced by future automation [ CITATION Mck17 \l 1033 ] would be employable at higher skill levels in the industry in human complementary services. The rise in the marginal worker population in India would be aptly checked in this manner in the long run. Necessity of latest data A United Nations Report that came out in early 2017 predicts a slight increase in unemployment in India during the- period and is likely to touch 18 million. If the overall unemployment rate rises, the number of marginal workers is likely to go up as well. The national census is held every 10 years so waiting for 10 years to compile new data is not adequate. The Indian government is planning through a task force that was constituted this year to find ways and means to get the most accurate and latest data on the exact position of the labor market at present. The idea is that only with accurate and reliable data, any serious and effective long-term future planning and policies on employment can be finalized which would touch upon the case of the marginal workers as well [ CITATION HTC17 \l 1033 ]. While at present the employment, related Figure 9 Labor intensive sector labor report from Labor Bureau Source: [ CITATION Som17 \l 1033 ]. data is churned out by many different organizations, the new planning might be all encompassing and complete in all respects. This would the first necessary step towards the ultimate goal of finding ways to employ the marginal workers in the future. The position in 2015 as compared to previous years (as shown above) had shown a drastic drop in the employment in labor-intensive sectors which would mean that those workers who are not skilled would have ended up as either unemployed or as marginal workers with fewer days to work per year. The new ‘National Employment Policy’ expected by October or November 2017 would try to address issues related to increasing in general unemployment as well as an increase in marginal workers besides other labor and employment related issues. The policy would be devised in consultation with government ministries, SMEs, electronics and IT industries, heavy industries, textiles and health, education and commerce sectors, etc. The government is fully aware that the rise in automation is affecting the job market. The draft National policy plan presented in 2014 had envisaged job creation for workers in the non-farm ‘construction’ sector through training of the unskilled workers, however, a more comprehensive and all-encompassing policy document is expected in the last quarter of this year [ CITATION Som17 \l 1033 ]. Looking at the graph above, it seems that a really thorough national policy for job creation (through training and skill development plans) would need to be put in place both in the short-term and long-term otherwise, it would not be easy to stem the tide of automation without investing heavily in skill development training and even in industry related educational courses at the universities. The Indian research institutions and the private industry would have to play their part in not just providing consultation but finances, donations and investments in both short and long term as well. This would be an investment in the future of Indian industry and would ensure a long-term ‘sustainable’ development in the future. The consequences of inaction on part of non-governmental players would not bode well for the Indian industry in the long run. Businesses usually try to save every dollar for the sake of being competitive but this issue can only be tackled by collective long-term thinking on part of the industry as a whole and individual decision making on part of individual business houses would need to be replaced by a collective approach for the sake of the future and sustainable progress. Therefore, it is quite possible that the government would not have to resort to forcing the industries for mandatory contributions in the skilled development programs but that they would have the foresight of supporting the country’s future by investing along with the government and thus willingly contribute in long term programs which would be envisaged by the government in the upcoming National Employment Policy. A dollar invested in the skill development today on part of the private industry as a whole would transform into many dollars in the future as there would be an ample supply of trained and skilled workers at their disposal. Such a skilled workforce would not just boost up the local Indian high-tech and other industry but would also be instrumental in inviting Foreign Direct Investment and setting up of industries by global corporations and other foreign companies. The Indian labor market, unlike that of many other countries of the world does not face the problem of ‘language development skills’ as already the global language is spoken all over the country and its workforce needs to be trained in technical or skills only without requiring any heavy investments on part of international investors and industrialists in translations or in lowering any language-related barriers. Importance of Virtual online training at grass roots level While the National Employment policy would make recommendations on imparting skill related training through training centers, a different idea can be put to practice. The local governments in different towns and districts can establish huge community computer centers with 500 or so computers each. These can then be opened to desirous workers who want to learn new skills for 2 hours per worker each day. This way, a single center could cater to 6000 workers per day and all those skills that can be taught via videos, animation and online quizzes and tests can then be imparted to these workers without them needing to get admitted to any training centers. This would ensure training to all workers regardless they are PC owners or not. Any part of the training that would require practical training at the laboratories can then be completed at the government supported training centers. Consultancy regarding which training programs the workers should follow and which are more beneficial to them would need to be coordinated at the grass roots i.e. community and town level. The government would thus need to set up an infrastructure at the grassroots level which would provide consultancy on the type of training suitable for each worker and the PC infrastructure that would be required to complete the skill development programs. The practical training can then be competed at government training centers as well as at facilities provided by the private industries at the behest of the government as their participation would be crucial to the success of such a program. As can be judged from the recommendations above, the government, the local industries, the community overlords, and the marginal workers would all have to play their part in such a program in a collaborative manner ensuring the success of such a program. Unwillingness by any of the stakeholders listed above could jeopardize the efforts put in by the others and lead the program to either partial success or failure. The willingness of the stakeholders can be assured by making sure that each is aware of the current situation and that they are desirous of causing a change in status quo and that with the government at the center in control of the program they are willing to contribute towards the future of Indian industry and a skilled labor market which would fuel the industry as per its needs and never fall short of its requirements. Self-Employment In a 2015 report published by the International Labor Organization; a UN agency, it stated that around 75% of the total workforce in the world is that of self-employed, temporary or casual workers. Marginal workers form a good part of this proportion. The situation in the developed economies is that share of the fully employed workers is decreasing as a lesser number of persons have secure quality jobs. However, the fully employed workforce proportion is still high for developing countries but it is gradually decreasing. The biggest problem with self-employment is the absence of any health coverage or retirement plans unless the individual finances these himself. As such ILO strongly recommends that governments should extend these benefits to self-employed workers. However, it is very hard to convince governments to ‘regulate’ in the presence of financial crisis like situation in many countries recently. Spain is one example where the government does not force its regulations and allow the companies to hire and fire easily or reduce pays [ CITATION Sar151 \l 1033 ]. In India, there is no such situation however, the rise of marginal workers is an alarming trend and all the stakeholders like the government, the industry, the workers, educational institutions, research institutions, and NGOs all need to coordinate their efforts so as to exert the maximum influence in encouraging self-employment among the marginal workers but at the same time support retraining efforts on a mass scale to these workers so that their skills can be enhanced to match the requirements that the industrialists are seeking to employ. The benefits of Deregulation Experts argue that ‘waiting’ to get to the ideal point where all workers would have secure, quality jobs amounts to a fallacy and should not be pursued. Instead, deregulation is a better way to ensure that at least some form of job opportunity is available to most workers even if it bypasses gratuity and health coverage, etc. Waiting for an ‘ideal’ situation could render the workers as ‘unemployable’ as they keep waiting for the secure quality job and lose opportunities on the way. Thus, the Indian government can concentrate on providing jobs of all kinds regardless of the fact that they fulfill the ideal criteria or not. There is no benefit in being too idealistic. One tends to lose even what one can access in pursuit of idealism. The idealistic pursuit of long-term lifetime employment with benefits would only end up generating long-term unemployed workers who at a later stage would be 'unemployable'. Instead, the Indian government is best advised to go for a 'job mix' in which all sorts of jobs, both ideal with salary and benefits or even wages related jobs and tasks are possible. The much touted and expected National employment policy must try to address this issue at all types of ‘job levels’ and make plans in such a manner that both highly secure and lifetime jobs are encouraged and ways and means found to train the workforce to be able to get those jobs but at the same time ensure that there is a conscious effort in the country to create jobs of all types. The total job creation with such an approach would lead to a larger job creation as compared to the situation in which only formal, organized and secure jobs are created that carry retirement benefits and health coverage [ CITATION Sar151 \l 1033 ]. Self-employment pays In the world of business and industry today, just around 50% of the workforce in the world has a proper salaried job or work on wages. The rest 50% are 'self-employed- and support their families by doing work on their own. Among the former group, only 40% have formal full-time jobs. ILO study in 2015 further revealed that only 25% of the employees enjoyed having a permanent work contract while at least 13% were working on limited or temporary contracts. The rest, as per the study were working simply without a contract at all. In rich and developed countries of North America and North Western Europe, permanent contracts are still sought after and are popular there but their percentage of the total number of contracts is now decreasing slightly however by 2015, it hovered at over 73.2%. The number of self-employed workers are increasing all over the world and the rich countries are no exceptions. Similarly, the number of workers without contracts in increasing too [ CITATION Sar151 \l 1033 ]. It is important to note that with this kind of 'job mix' available to the workers, they would be able to find a slot for themselves either as contactless workers or get themselves to start work on their own thus pursuing self-employment. No longer is it possible for governments to pursue ideal strategies that would create ideal secure jobs in view of the volatility of the business environment. The Indian government is well advised to pursue strategies to create jobs in the formal sector through skill development programs etc. as mentioned earlier in this paper, however, it would not be practically possible to address the entire issue in such a way that all marginal workers would end up getting full-time contract jobs with full-fledged employment benefits even if they get their skills enhanced through skill developed programs because by the time such programs would yield their output the situation of the industry would have changed and it would have moved forward. Thus, again some of the workers would have to go for other insecure, temporary jobs which would keep them in the ‘marginal’ worker category. It is nonetheless, possible through governmental efforts in conjunction with industries, research institutions, and educational institutions and training centers to increase the number of secure jobs in the future through their efforts. The workers who would develop their skills better than the others would stand a better chance of getting the long-term employment contracts as per the skill sets required by the industry but there would be many others who would have to either work with temporary contracts, no contracts or fend for themselves through self-employment. The main idea behind the above discussion is that the skill development programs must be implemented as recommended earlier in the report through the upcoming National Employment Policy, however, expecting that all workers who get trained through such initiatives would end up having become full-fledged organized and formal workers is a bit hard to fathom as the business world is too volatile to support such expectations. Moreover, things do not happen in a vacuum. The dynamics of the Indian industry along with the world economy could force certain changes in the job market that would force at least a part of the workers trained through such initiatives to not end up having full-time secure contract jobs. For this reason, the ‘option’ of self-employment must always be kept supreme in the minds of the national leaders and the policies devised should ensure that self-employment for marginal workers would be supported hand on hand along with the parallel efforts directed at training them in various skills through skill development programs. Conclusion Keeping the above in mind, it is necessary for the Indian government to include benefits and a support structure for the self-employed in India as a lot of the marginal workers would end up going down this path to self-fulfillment and prosperity. The mindset of the planners needs to be such that while it fully encourages top notch industrial development through formal, and organized sector jobs attained through skill development initiatives, it must allocate at least half of the efforts, time and money towards improving the social and job conditions for the self-employed by creating a socio-economic structure within the country that encourages self-employment, promotes it, respects and values it and offers benefits and advantages like health coverage and pension plans through various schemes designed to support temporary lull in the work for the self-employed and their life once they retire from self-employment due to old age. etc. Knowing fully well that self-employment would be a prevailing trend in the future alongside the high-tech skilled employment opportunities that would be availed by some and missed by the others; it is necessary that a lot of governmental efforts go into the making plans that aim to provide the right conditions and the atmosphere to the self-employed in which they can thrive and prosper and contribute towards national development. 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