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The Labour Bureau of the Government of India conducted a survey on employment-unemployment in 2009-10 (the first of its kind) and revealed that there are 40 million unemployed with an unemployment rate of 9.4%.

Large-scale unemployment causes lowering of the levels of living of people. The objective of economic development is to provide people with basic necessities, and opportunities for meaningful employment. Expanding productive employment is central for sustained poverty reduction and for improvement in human development, as labour is the main asset for the majority of the poor.

Appropriate macro policies are important for generating employment. What strategies are required in the changed macro-economic environment? One has to examine whether macro policies in India are pro-employment and pro-poor. The regulatory regime in respect of labour requires to be closely examined with a view to devising ways to minimize dualism. Accepting employment as a major goal of development, the growth model underlying planning should adopt a sector-focused approach, aiming at faster growth of sectors with high employment potential. How is this to be done?

Given the inclusive growth imperatives and growing need for creating employment opportunities we organised the 27th Skoch Summit with the underlying theme of “Generating Employment” on 29th-30th November 2011 at New Delhi. The key content of the summit is as follows:

• Housing and Poverty Alleviation
• Manufacturing and Infrastructure
• Skill Development and Livelihood Linkages
• Reviving Agriculture and Cooperatives
• Palliatives and Social Interventions
• Labour Market Reforms
• Role of ICT in Generating Employment
• Targeting Minorities and Weaker Sections
• Gendered Employment Generation

Given the 27th Skoch Summit framework, Skoch Development Foundation organised the “11thThinkers & Writers Forum” on 30th Nov 2011 at New Delhi that provided an opportunity to the authors to present their papers to an elite gathering of delegates.

All the authors whose final papers were selected, got a complimentary invitation for attending the 27th Skoch Summit.