The number of Covid-19 cases in India is rising at an unexpected rate and there seems no way of curbing or even slowing down this rapid increase of patients. India has now crossed 5.7 lakh cases as of now and there seems no end in sight. The number of cases in Karnataka is also rapidly increasing. As of today, it has crossed the mark of 14 thousand in Karnataka. Karnataka government has updated the Standards of Procedures (SOPs) and imposed new curfew timings amid the ongoing lockdown to control Covid-19 cases. Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation has also decided to send all its employees above the age of 50 and those with an ailment, home on leave as a precautionary measure. This is a very generous move from BMTC.

Something that’s equally worrying as the rising Covid-19 patients are the growing unemployment in the nation. The world’s biggest lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic had stalled work under the rural jobs guarantee scheme, leaving daily wage workers with little to fall back on. Most workers move from villages to work in the cities as domestic helpers, drivers and gardeners, or as daily-wagers on construction sites, building malls, flyovers and homes, or as street vendors of which many have lost their jobs. As many as 92.5% of labourers have already lost one to three weeks of work as soon as the lockdown was announced and of a group of over 1,10,929 migrant workers stranded across the country amid the nationwide lockdown to contain the coronavirus infection, only 6% had received their full wages till April 26, according to reports. Among those who are self-employed – such as street vendors and rickshaw pullers – more than 90% had not earned any money in the first 42 days of the lockdown. The unemployment rate across the nation is at 27% from 7%. The staggering increase has all state governments and even the central government in a spot like never before. Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Bihar lead the charts with more than 40% rate of unemployment while Karnataka follows with 29%, whereas the other states have lesser than 25% rate of unemployment.

To increase employment, the Karnataka government has decided to organize a mega online job mela on July 7 to connect the job-seekers with the providers. Furthermore, the Karnataka government has also announced that it has launched an app which would help people search for jobs they want and get in contact with the providers. This app is called ‘Skill Connect’. It will provide a sector-wise and a region-wise list of jobs. The portal is called skillconnect.kaushalkar.com. This portal will also provide skill training for those interested. The government has asked all the interested candidates to register on this portal.

It is very pleasing to see a state government take the initiative to increase employment. More such initiatives are expected from all the state governments and the Central Government. Hopefully, these initiatives will help reduce the rate of unemployment.