Q.Discuss the main causes of unemployment in India.

India's unemployment stems from population pressure, structural/sectoral weaknesses, and educational-social factors acting together.

Explain each cause grouped under demographic, structural, and educational/social factors.

Unemployment in India arises from a combination of factors:

Demographic pressure: rapid growth of population and the labour force has, at times, outpaced the economy's capacity to create new jobs.

Structural/sectoral factors:

• Heavy dependence on agriculture, a seasonal sector with limited capacity to productively absorb additional labour.
• Slow pace of industrialisation relative to the workforce moving out of agriculture.
• Adoption of capital-intensive technology, which produces more output per worker but creates fewer new jobs per unit of investment.
• Regional imbalance in industrial development, concentrating opportunity in a few states/cities.
• Inadequate infrastructure limiting the pace of new industry and business formation.

Educational/social factors:

• A degree-oriented education system that has historically emphasised academic qualifications over employable, industry-relevant skills, directly causing educated unemployment.
• The joint family system, which has historically cushioned unemployed or underemployed members through shared family income, reducing the pressure to actively seek work elsewhere.
• The inherently seasonal nature of the agricultural work cycle.