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Mr. Speaker, Sir, I thank the hon. Members, Shri Gurudas Dasgupta, Shri Rupchand Pal and Shri Santasri Chatterjee for raising this very important issue. I would like to assure this House, through you, Sir, that the Government is very much concerned about this issue. Even today, as I am standing here, a two-day Labor Conference is going on in Delhi, in which this subject was discussed. The hon. Member had suggested that we should have a meeting of the Labor Ministers. There is a meeting of the Labor Ministers today, in which we are discussing this issue. I agree with the figures given of five lakh, that this is only a sample survey. It is not the entire survey of the entire situation in the country; they have chosen only a few sectors and seen as to how much it has affected. So, this is not a question of total job losses in the country; and it is only a sample survey. We have taken several measures in the Government of India. Even before the discussion on the crisis began, the Prime Minister had taken advance action, both in the Cabinet and also in the Departments. That is how, the RBI came out with a package; that is how, the other Ministries and Departments which are involved or concerned with employment and production were put together to discuss this issue and the package was announced. Even before the country could wake up together to discuss this issue, the Government has taken advance action and it is not correct to say that Government has not taken action. When the entire world is shaken by the meltdown, our economy is still the second largest economy in the world is shaken by the meltdown, our economy is till the second largest economy in the world where the growth rate is the second largest. But your report says leaving 77 per cent; others are able to spend only Rs. 20 per day. It is the report of your Ministry. So, do not boast yourself of growth; please speak about poverty and deprivation.
Sir, most of the agricultural workers after finishing their work come and work as construction workers. They migrate from one State to another. We have made a study and we find that most of the workers migrate from States where there is more poverty to States like Haryana, Gujarat or Punjab. The flow of migration has come down considerably because the workers are getting jobs in their own villages whether it is in Bihar, West Bengal or any other State. The migrations levels have come down which means jobs are available to the people in their own villages and he Members have to acknowledge this.
Basically, the work force is in the villages as 65 per cent of the people are working in the village in the farming sector. The farming sector where the growth rate was hardly half a per cent today has increased to four-and-a-half per cent. That means our farmers are getting work domestic consumption is still on. Even in the textile sector, garment sector when I inquired with people they said that though exports have been affected but our domestic consumption has gone up. Even in the footwear industry our domestic consumption has gone up.