New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said more jobs need to be created in non-farm sector as employment creation is the most potent tool for bringing down poverty.
Addressing a summit on livelihood security, he also asked the industry to create a mechanism for income opportunities and capacity building through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
“In India, the high incidence of poverty of over 60 percent that prevailed six decades ago have come down to over 30 percent now. …Even then a sizeable number of about 270 million remained below the poverty line as on 2011-12.
Stating that job creation is the most potent tool for wiping out the curse of poverty, the President said there is a “freeze in fresh farm jobs” owing to over-employment and therefore more jobs needed to be created in non-farm sector.
“To lift the pressure off the farm sector, more jobs in non-farm sector are required to be created through a paradigm shift from primary to secondary agriculture,” he added.
Highlighting that food processing sector provides a window for generating jobs in rural areas and small townships, Mukherjee said: “Developing this sunrise sector calls for greater investment in infrastructure like cold chains, handling, packaging and transportation.”
Even as he called for creating more jobs in non-farm sector, he said efforts should be made to make agriculture a viable and rewarding profession by improving farm yields through intervention of modern technologies.
