Changes in job opportunities

Let me share with you about changes taking place in the job opportunities of the unskilled workers in urban India. 

The Indian roads are overcrowded with automobiles, particualry two wheelers.  One can come across scooter mechanics functioning from their congested and crowded rooms, almost in every  street in a city. There is enough and more work for every mechanic.

There are also several tyre maintenance shops to mend puncture in an inflatable tube used in the tyre. Since most of the two wheeler and four wheeler manufacturers have changed to  the use of tubeless tyres, the conventional tyre maintenance shops do not have enough work. They wait for their customers.

Most owners of the  modern cars will mend their tubeless tyres with the help of a self maintenance kit which is easy to use. Also, with the quality in the road surface improving, the tyres are less prone for punctures.

This is a good example of how some jobs are still needed and some other jobs are less viable economically.

I remember meeting the head of an industrial truing unit recently, who mentioned to me that, his centre has started retraining programs for those whose jobs do not sustain them financially. 

I realize that many get silently displaced from their jobs with all the economic reforms we are ushering in. Those of us who have stable jobs can contribute to this social transformation by supporting the initiatives of the NGO’s who identify such people who need retraining for new jobs.

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)