Make right to work fundamental: CPI-M

Visakhapatnam, April 17 (IANS) Voicing deep concern at the "alarming" unemployment situation in the country, the Communist Party of India-Marxist has demanded that right to work be made a fundamental right and that unemployment allowance be paid to the jobless. In a resolution passed at the ongoing 21st Congress of the party here on Friday, the party said high unemployment was the outcome of more than 30 years of economic reforms, seriously threatening the future of millions of Indian youth. It called for removing the ban on recruitment in various central and state government departments and public sector enterprises, stopping the abolition of vacant posts and filling of all vacancies within a prescribed time frame. The resolution also demanded a halt to outsourcing of jobs in government departments and public sector enterprises. It feels that the policy being pushed by the Modi government will not solve the problem. "Instead of increasing public investment to ensure the creation of jobs, the government is relying entirely on the organised private sector, and corporations, domestic and foreign, to invest in India and create jobs," said the resolution. It pointed out that similar policies followed by the UPA government did not create commensurate employment opportunities, but on the contrary the situation worsened. In another resolution on Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), it condemned the policy of the Modi government to dilute and ultimately eliminate the legal right to 100 days of work on demand in rural India.