City Press - 10 July 2011
Real policy innovation which is able to change society is rare. But the introduction of an employment guarantee in India is an innovation of this sort of magnitude, with far-reaching implications for social and economic policy.
Labour federation Cosatu's general-secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, recently praised the Indian programme, saying that a similar approach could help defuse the “ticking time bomb” of poverty and unemployment in South Africa.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was passed in India in 2005. It guarantees 100 days of work to every rural household with unemployed adult members.
The scheme has been rolled out across India and now has more than 55?million participants. And Vavi is correct: it is a model of obvious interest for South Africa, and has been a key source of inspiration for the design of the Community Work Programme.
While the programme is not an employment guarantee, it is designed to explore how this concept could be adapted to South African conditions.