Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep 15 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday said the government is committed to promoting the wellbeing of workers, especially those in the unorganised sector who comprise over 90 percent of India’s total workforce.
He also asked both managements and workers to improve work ethics as the nation gears up to meet the aspirations of its youth and touch double-digit economic growth in a sustained manner.

“Our effort is to promote the wellbeing of all sections of workers, especially those in the unorganised sector, who comprise over 90 percent of our total workforce,” he said at an event organised here to recognise talented workers in the country and present them with awards under various categories.

“We are committed to creating conditions that will encourage individual initiative, ingenuity, and acquisition of new skills,” he said.

The prime minister said India’s economic performance in recent years was impressive and the country was poised to move to the trajectory of sustained high economic growth, to fight mass poverty, hunger and disease that still afflict millions of people.

“To achieve our goals and our ambitions, we will have to enhance productivity across all sectors of the economy. Our work ethic as a people also needs to be greatly improved. Both managements and workers have a critical role in bringing about this much needed change,” he added.

He said doing a repetitive task mechanically can be draining. And, given that resources were limited and need to be utilised optimally, the same work could become far more fulfilling when infused with a sense of meaning and purpose, when “shram” or work becomes “seva” or service.

According to the prime minister, in today’s increasingly integrated world new knowledge, information and skills had become critical determinants of economic development and more attention was needed on education and skill development.

“Our aim is a growth rate of 9-10 percent in the medium term. But this will not happen automatically. There are deficiencies we will have to remove and strengths that we will have to acquire.”

He said an enabling environment was needed to encourage and reward innovation with more responsive training systems and institutions. At the same time, women needed equitable access to opportunities to increase their representation in the nation’s workforce.

“Through our skill development initiatives we have been working to achieve the objective of having a skilled workforce that can meet the requirements of growing economy in the 21st Century besides generating employment opportunities for young people,” he said.

“We intend to accelerate our efforts in this direction in the future.”

The prime minister said it was to the credit of the Indian worker that in the past six decades, India’s has been able to build roads, ports, airports, hydroelectric projects and giant industrial complexes all over our country.

“It is their tireless hard work that has enabled our country to emerge as the strong economy of today,” he said, adding without these workers India as a nation would not have been able to move ahead.

“The awards remind us of the value and dignity of labour. The award winners being honoured today also symbolize the new work ethos and a new work culture that are needed to meet the new challenges that face our economy and our polity,” he said.

“In particular, I would urge all of you present here to resolve today to make our work-places more disciplined.”