Alain Berset, president of the Swiss Confederation, shakes hands with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 23, 2018. Xu Jinquan/Press Association. All rights reserved.At the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was welcomed by a big turnout at the plenary session and introduced by WEF founder, Klaus Schwab, as the leader of a country that is the “bright image of dynamism, of optimism”. For his part, Modi spoke of a vision of shared future that overcomes the fault lines of inequality, poverty, unemployment, and lack of opportunities.
Ahead of the visit, Modi encouraged the presentation of India as the centre of attraction for the entire world. Closely on the heels of Modi’s platforming of India as a rising global force, NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India, ironically headed by Modi) published a report on severe underemployment in the country, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2017 published findings on the failures of various programmes for education and vocational training of Indian youth, and the World Bank released data showing that the richest 1% in India now own 73% of its wealth. In short, not the best prospects for India.
Modi, on the other hand, continues to insist, “If someone opens a 'pakoda' [fried snacks] shop in front of your office, does that not count as employment? The person's daily earning of Rs 200 will never come into any books or accounts. The truth is massive people are being employed.” PM Modi’s celebration of informal and precarious work as gainful employment is rightly being criticised. But what of the much-touted formal jobs generated as a result of encouraging foreign direct investment and privatisation post-1990?
