There is an important question facing India today: What is more dangerous, unemployment or disengagement?
NV Paulose, Chairman, Global TV +91 98441 82044
At first glance, unemployment appears to be the obvious threat. When people do not have jobs, they lose income, financial security and often their sense of independence. Families experience pressure, businesses lose potential talent, and governments face greater demands for social support. But there is another problem that may be even more dangerous in the long run: disengagement.
A person can be unemployed and actively searching for an opportunity. They can remain hopeful, acquire skills and continue looking for ways to contribute. But a person who has become disengaged from the economic system begins to lose the motivation to participate altogether.
This distinction is critical for India.
We hear ambitious announcements about creating millions of new jobs in areas such as artificial intelligence, technology, manufacturing and the digital economy. Such announcements create excitement, but announcements alone do not create meaningful economic engagement. Nor does allocating a large budget automatically produce economic value.
The real question is: How carefully are these opportunities being designed, delivered and measured?
Large national schemes can become vulnerable to leakage, corruption, administrative inefficiency and weak accountability when money is allocated without sufficiently strong mechanisms to connect expenditure with measurable outcomes. The danger is not simply that money may be wasted. The greater danger is that people may be promised opportunities that never meaningfully reach them.
India therefore needs to rethink the way economic opportunity is created. Instead of relying predominantly on large top down programmes, we need a bottom up approach to economic engagement, where communities, businesses, educational institutions, entrepreneurs and individuals help identify genuine opportunities and participate in designing solutions.
Public money should increasingly follow outcomes.
This is where an incentive based budgeting philosophy, drawing lessons from models such as Singapore, becomes relevant. The objective should not be to copy another country’s system mechanically, but to learn from the principle of linking resources, accountability and measurable performance.
If an institution creates successful entrepreneurs, develops employable talent, increases local incomes or generates sustainable employment, it should have a stronger case for receiving additional support. If a programme repeatedly fails to deliver measurable outcomes, funding should be reconsidered.
Reward should follow results.
This approach can change the psychology of economic development. Instead of asking only how much money was allocated, we begin asking what value was created, how many people participated, what incomes were generated, what enterprises emerged, and whether those outcomes can be sustained.
The goal should be to create meaningful economic engagements, not merely headline numbers.
1. Unemployment Is Visible; Disengagement Is Often Invisible
Unemployment is relatively easy to identify. We can measure the number of people without jobs, examine employment rates, and track vacancies. Disengagement is much harder to measure because it can exist beneath the surface.
A young graduate who has stopped applying for jobs may technically disappear from unemployment statistics. A professional who has stopped learning because they see no future in their industry may still appear employed. A talented person who has abandoned an entrepreneurial idea because they could not find support may look economically inactive, even though they have enormous potential.
This makes disengagement particularly dangerous.
When people repeatedly encounter closed doors, they eventually stop knocking. The loss is not merely personal. Society loses their creativity, ambition, experience and productive energy. Unemployment can therefore become the beginning of disengagement if it continues for too long. But disengagement can also exist independently of unemployment. Someone can have a salary without having a sense of participation, purpose or growth. The real objective should be to move people from passive existence to active participation. That means creating pathways where people can see opportunities, understand what is expected of them, develop relevant capabilities and receive recognition for their contribution. Employment is important. But meaningful engagement is what sustains economic participation.
2. Rewarding Opportunities Can Reconnect People
If we want people to engage, we must give them something worth engaging with. The phrase “rewarding opportunities” should be understood broadly. Rewards are not limited to salaries or financial incentives. People also value recognition, learning, independence, networks, purpose, creativity, responsibility and the opportunity to build something of their own. A meaningful opportunity might be a job, apprenticeship, mentorship, freelance assignment, entrepreneurship programme, community project, cultural initiative, technology challenge or professional collaboration.
The important principle is that participation should lead somewhere.
Imagine a young person joining a community initiative where they can learn digital skills, work with experienced professionals, complete real projects and build a portfolio. Even before obtaining a conventional job, that person has begun building economic value. Similarly, an experienced professional could mentor younger people while developing consulting opportunities. A retired expert could contribute knowledge to education or entrepreneurship. A small business owner could collaborate with local talent. An institution could transform its network into a platform for opportunity. This creates an opportunity ecosystem rather than a narrow employment programme. People should be able to enter at different stages and move forward:
Learn → Participate → Contribute → Earn → Grow → Mentor Others
That cycle can become much more powerful than simply asking, “How many jobs were created?”
3. From Human Potential to Economic Prosperity
An economy does not prosper merely because people are employed. It prospers when human capability is converted into productive value. Every community contains an enormous amount of underutilised potential. There are people with ideas, skills, experience, relationships and knowledge who are not adequately connected to markets or opportunities. The challenge is to build bridges.
Education must connect more directly with real world opportunities. Businesses must become more involved in developing talent. Institutions must create platforms for collaboration. Government can provide enabling infrastructure and policy support. Technology can connect people to opportunities beyond their immediate geography.
The result can be a virtuous economic cycle.
When people find meaningful opportunities, they earn income. When income increases, consumption and investment can increase. Businesses respond to stronger demand. New businesses emerge. More people are required to deliver products and services. Skills become more valuable. Communities become more economically active.
In other words:
- Engaged people create value.
- Value creates income.
- Income creates demand.
- Demand creates enterprise.
- Enterprise creates more opportunities.
This is how individual engagement can contribute to economic prosperity. The objective should not be to create artificial activity merely to keep people busy. It should be to connect people with productive, rewarding and sustainable participation.
4. Building Platforms for Participation
The next question is practical: how do we create these opportunities? We need platforms that bring together people, institutions, businesses, knowledge and opportunities. A successful platform could identify talent, understand skills, showcase achievements, publish opportunities, provide mentorship and connect participants with organisations that need their capabilities. Local communities can play a particularly important role. Cities and regions across India contain extensive networks of businesses, educational institutions, cultural organisations, entrepreneurs and professionals. These networks can become engines of opportunity when they collaborate rather than operate in isolation.
This is where a bottom up approach becomes powerful. Rather than designing every opportunity from a distant administrative centre, we should allow local ecosystems to identify their own strengths and needs. One region may have an advantage in tourism. Another may have manufacturing capabilities. Another may have technology talent. Another may have agriculture, crafts, healthcare or cultural industries.
Budgets can then become more responsive to actual opportunity. Recognition can also become a powerful mechanism for engagement. When communities celebrate people for what they contribute, rather than merely for their wealth or job titles, they create role models. Stories of achievement can motivate others to participate. This is where storytelling becomes important. Every successful entrepreneur, teacher, artist, professional, social worker or community builder has a story. Sharing those stories can show others what is possible. A recognition initiative such as 1K Konkani Icons of Excellence can therefore become more than an awards programme. It can document 1,000 stories of achievement and turn those stories into inspiration, connections and future opportunities.
The message is simple:
Your contribution matters, and there is a place for your talent in the future economy.
5. From Disengagement to a Culture of Opportunity
Ultimately, the biggest change required is cultural. We must move from asking people only, “Do you have a job?” to asking: “Are you meaningfully engaged in creating value?”
A society that encourages opportunity does not wait for everyone to find a conventional nine to five position. It creates multiple pathways to participation. Young people need opportunities to experiment. Professionals need opportunities to reinvent themselves. Entrepreneurs need opportunities to build. Institutions need opportunities to collaborate. Older generations need opportunities to transfer their knowledge. Communities need opportunities to recognise their contributors.
The economy benefits when all of these groups are connected.
This does not mean that unemployment is unimportant. Quite the opposite. Creating quality employment remains essential for economic security and social stability. But employment policy alone cannot solve the deeper problem if millions of people remain disconnected from purpose, opportunity and participation.
Disengagement is dangerous because it wastes potential.
And wasted potential is an economic cost that may never appear clearly in a spreadsheet. India therefore needs to move towards a more intelligent model of economic participation. Public investment should create pathways. Institutions should be encouraged to deliver measurable outcomes. Communities should have greater ownership. Businesses should become active partners. Individuals should have multiple ways to participate and earn. Most importantly, rewards should increasingly be connected to contribution and results.
- We need more than jobs. We need pathways.
- We need more than employment statistics. We need engagement.
- We need more than large announcements. We need measurable outcomes.
- We need more than budgets. We need value creation.
And we need more than economic growth measured from above. We need prosperity that is experienced by people at the individual, family and community levels. The future economy will belong to societies that can successfully connect human potential with meaningful opportunity. That is why the challenge before us is not simply unemployment versus disengagement.
It is a call to action:
Let us carefully craft meaningful economic engagements, create rewarding opportunities, connect public investment to outcomes, encourage bottom up innovation and build an economy that grows because its people are actively participating in its growth. When people are engaged, economies become energetic. When people are rewarded for contribution, communities become confident. And when opportunity becomes accessible, prosperity becomes possible.
