Job creation, alleviating rural distress likely to top new government's agenda

livemint.com:

₹10,000 or less. In many poor states, they have spoken about their lived experience, in spite of the official numbers painting a bright picture of the larger economy.The figure of 8% real GDP growth in FY24 has not really found itself trickling down to a vast majority of masses.

Contraction of rural wages (in real terms) depicts the dire state of rural economy. And inequality seems have found an expression in the election results, at least in some states.It must be said that elections are too complex to be the outcome of one or a few reasons across the entire country.

Many poor states (Bihar and Odisha, for example) have voted for the BJP, so it seems their voters are satisfied with the government and they think that the incumbent government is well equipped to deliver employment and a better future for them.In any case, the new government, irrespective of its colour, will therefore be bound to take the plight of the masses into consideration.The top priority for the new government at the Centre would be to formulate and implement a policy regime which would create more employment opportunities. The Union government cannot do it alone, so it will have to work with the states.

It means that federal polity, which had witnessed a decline in the last ten years, may regain centre stage again. For a vast and diverse country, it will be a good development.According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), about 45.76% of India's workforce was employed in agriculture and allied sectors in 2022-23, but its share in the gross value added (GVA) in the total economy was only 18.3%.

And a large number of those employed in agriculture are unpaid family labour. For growth and stability of agriculture and allied sectors, the