From MDGs to SDGs – Creating Green Jobs
for Inclusive Growth
E ven as India
continues to record impressive economic growth, extreme poverty and
inequality remain major challenges. According to the National Sample
Survey Organisation, in the year 2000, the average income of the richest
people in urban India was 12 times that of the poorest people. This gap
increased to 15 times in 2012. The underlying cause of this is the
failure of the current economic development model to integrate all
segments of the society in the growth story. This model fails to provide
jobs and benefits to the poor further exacerbating the persisting
disparities. The distribution of India’s GDP growth rate is structurally
disequalising1 and destablising.
Evidence across time and space, especially from
Nordic countries has illustrated that reduced poverty and even
distribution of income leads to a sustainable and strong economy. On the
contrary, high levels of inequality have resulted in volatile economic
performance and social instability in countries like the United States,
Greece and Spain over the last few years.2 Therefore, there
is an urgent need to put in place systems attacking poverty and
inequality. Creation of green and inclusive decent jobs for all is one
way to facilitate such development. A supply of jobs enhances the
productive capabilities of people laying the foundation of prosperity
and social cohesion.3
Development policy in the
last decade, guided by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), has
failed to create inclusive economic growth and jobs. Chang (2010) argues
that MDGs lacked a strategy to promote necessary transformations that
nurture productive capabilities. He describes the MDGs vision as one of
‘development without development’.4 Moreover, donor countries
have expressed that the MDGs give all attention to social outcomes,
ignoring economic transformations. As a result, Official Development
Assistance (ODA) is becoming concentrated on health and education with
the economic sectors gradually getting neglected. For example, the share
of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitments to the
production sectors in the least developed countries fell from 48% in the
period 1992-1994 to 25% in 2006.5 Moreover, the overemphasis
on meeting social outcome targets has led to national governments
splurging on dole out schemes that have increased inflation and raised
deficits. |
Critical Reforms to Facilitate Green Job Creation In
India
• Raise agriculture productivity with a focus on land
reforms and natural resource regeneration
• Accelerate creation of non-farm green job
opportunities
• Increase flexibility and dynamism of labour markets
• Build skills and develop capacities of the poor and
the unemployed
• Encourage innovative education programmes that
embody vocational skills development and entrepreneurship
• Incentivise the micro, small and medium enterprise
sectors |
This poor economic strategy of the last decade
coupled with the resource pressures of today is likely to trigger wars,
political and social unrest within and across borders. For a country
like India which is adding 12 million people to the workforce each year,
an inclusive and green growth development strategy is a must as we
advance into the post 2015 framework.6
A focus on decent and green jobs is critical in the
short term to curb the dramatic effects of a prolonged job crisis and in
the long term for making economic growth more sustainable, inclusive and
equitable.7 The post 2015
framework must create enabling conditions for this and set out an
explicit goal on productive green jobs unlike the insufficient emphasis
placed on this subject in the MDGs. This goal must be simple with agreed
parameters that can help national level stakeholders define targets
suited to the needs of their countries.8
This future framework must also place emphasis on ‘means’ enabling the
achievement of desired social and economic outcomes rather than the
‘ends’ themselves. Therefore, support for social development must be
complemented by measures that enhance employment in order to promote
sustainable human development.
q
Chitrangna Dewan
cdewan@devalt.org
1
Mishra, P. (2013) Which India Matters?
2 ODI (2013) Recasting MDG 8: Global Policies for Inclusive Growth
3 International Labour Office (n.d) Jobs and Livelihoods at the heart of
the Post-2015 Development Agenda
4 ODI (2012) Inclusive Growth and a
Post 2015 Framework
5 ODI (2013) Recasting MDG 8: Global Policies for Inclusive Growth
6 Mishra, P. (2013) Which India
Matters?
7 International Labour Office (n.d) Jobs and Livelihoods at the heart of
the Post-2015 Development Agenda
8 UN System Task Team on the Post 2015 Development Agenda (2012)
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