Don't reduce resources for employment generation: India

Geneva, June 17: India today urged developing countries to be "extra vigilant" to ensure that resources allocated to employment generation are not brought down significantly against the backdrop of the financial meltdown.
While addressing the Labour Ministers of NAM countries here, Minister for Labour Mallikarjun Kharge said, "there is a danger that Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) to developing countries may come down.

"All these will have serious implications for resource allocation in social sector spending, and, consequently, on employment, in our countries," he said suggesting extra vigilance to ensure that resources allocated to employment generation are not brought down.

Noting that "developing countries did not cause the current global economic and financial crisis", Kharge said "we are unfortunate victims on account of the adverse consequences such as falling export revenues and loss of employment." Talking about the relevance of ILO, specially in the present economic scenario, he said its 'global job pact' could counter the job crisis created by the financial meltdown.

"ILO is relevant today both to address the time lag and to provide modalities for shortening the slack between economic and jobs recovery," he said adding, the ILO pact will provide a comprehensive framework with appropriate policy guidelines and comprehensive strategies to counter job crisis.

Kharge, who is here to attend three-day-long International Labour Conference, also reiterated India's commitment to NAM. PTI