July 29, 2024
Kalyan Banerjee’s supplementary questions during Question Hour on creating jobs to replace those likely to be made redundant by because of AI and whether the government has any plans to create or apply laws to redress industrial disputes
Hon. Speaker, Sir, the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in India is having an impact on employment in various ways. It is a very big concern, as according to the available records, in the near future, about 69 per cent of the people in the country will lose employment during the tenure of this Government. In term of job displacement, a lot of arenas are there. And importantly, AI-powered task automation may replace jobs in sectors like manufacturing, customer service, and data entry. AI-driven efficiency improvements might lead to reduced workforce requirement in certain industries. AI might make some jobs redundant, especially those involved in repetitive or routine tasks. So, through you, I would like to ask the hon. Minister whether the Central Government has a plan to address the problem which is going to be faced. Nearly 69 million people will be displaced. What is the plan of the Central Government to address this issue? In addition, I have a request to you. This is such a burning issue. So, I would like to request you kindly to allow a discussion under Rule 55 on this issue. This is not an answer that you have given. Anyway, we have to tolerate these things. This is an answer to avoid the answer. You did not reply to the question. Sir, anyway, my second supplementary is this. It is nice to see from the reports of the Central Government regarding State-wise estimated unemployment during 2022-23 that so far as West Bengal is concerned, the unemployment rate is only 2.2 per cent, whereas in Kerala, in such a literate State, it is seven per cent and in Rajasthan, it is four per cent. In the Answer, it has been given that the various Ministries/Departments of the Government of India like the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, etc. are implementing different employment generation schemes. You have mentioned about different schemes. I do not want to repeat them. What is employment? Regarding employment, there should be a relationship of an employee and an employer. It consists of posts. Some jobs can be created because of introduction of certain schemes. But it does not create an employer and employee relationship. Employment is completely a different thing. Earlier, in our country, the concept of employment was employment in the Central Government, State Government, private sector, etc. Laws were made applicable before termination. Like in the Central Government, laws are there, in the private sector, the Industrial Disputes Act was made applicable so that labour should not remain unemployed because of the hire and fire policy of any employer. Now, whereas the Central Government is having a scheme today, in the private sector you do not have any control. The hire and fire policy is being applied and so many workers are being thrown out. My question, therefore, is this. How will you save the workers, how will you give the security of employment in the minds of the workers who are working in a private establishment? I would also like to know whether you are seriously thinking to bring a legislation to control the private sector so that the hire and fire policy is not applied and the workers are not thrown out of employment.
