Opinion
Krishna: India has 200 million surplus workers in agriculture
“We have about, I used to say a hundred million people surplus in agriculture, but another seventy million have joined agriculture in the last three, four years. Therefore, I believe we have two hundred million people who are surplus in agriculture.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Krishna: India risks demographic nightmare without 20 million annual new jobs
“So I think unless we create twenty million new jobs, India is going to have huge people keep talking about demographic dividend. No, we'll have a demographic nightmare. Unless we fix this problem.”
Assertion Supported
Krishna: India's PLI manufacturing incentives are not linked to job creation
“Current, the way it stands today, it has nothing to do with job creation, right? So the incentive, somebody can come set up something and like they'll get those incentives, but it's not connected to how many jobs they created.”
Assertion Contradicted
Krishna: Indian government and PSUs are the biggest non-payers of MSMEs
“Government is the biggest part is on one side of it where many PSUs and governments have not paid MSMEs.”
Assertion Supported
Krishna: Karnataka proposed 75% local quota for low-end, 50% for managerial jobs
“What Karnataka government was trying to do is to say that we want to reserve 75% of low-end jobs and 50% of managerial jobs to people who are local.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Krishna: Mandatory local hiring quotas will harm Bangalore's business attractiveness
“But if you are forced to hire only locals and a significant percentage of them, then you're going to limit the number of people that you can attract, and that will impact the attractiveness of Karnataka and Bangalore in particular as a place for doing business…”
Assertion Supported
Krishna: 85% of Indian MSMEs do not have credit needs met
“85% of SME MSMEs do not
Have their credit requirements met.”
Assertion Supported
Krishna: Haryana and Andhra Pradesh previously attempted local job reservation policies
“States like Haryana and Andhra Pradesh have attempted to do so earlier.”
Assertion Partly supported
Krishna: India's 2022 budget speech mentioned jobs 3 times, digital 16 times
“We talked about how many times jobs were mentioned in the budget speech of For the finance minister in twenty-twenty-two, and it was three times, right? Only three times were jobs mentioned in the entire budget speech. They talked about digital some 16 times i…”
Assertion Supported
Krishna: India's labor productivity is ~$8/hr versus ~$100/hr in US
“Labor productivity in India is like about eight dollars an hour, while in the U.S. It's like some hundred dollars an hour, right?”
Assertion Partly supported
Krishna: Only 14% of formal Indian workers make over 20,000 rupees monthly
“If you look at formal jobs, only some 14% of the people earn more than 20,000 rupees a month.”
Assertion Supported
Krishna: India is discussing training truck drivers for dispatch to Australia
“India's already having some
Interesting conversations with Australia, a few other countries where they're talking about truck drivers are being trained in India and being sent to Australia.”
Insight
Krishna: Large-scale manufacturing drove Bangladesh's female workforce success
“So that is why Bangladesh is successful because Bangladesh was able to attract large scale manufacturing, especially in governments, which employs large numbers of women. Women feel comfortable working in organizations run by women. Women feel comfortable work…”
Assertion Partly supported
Krishna: Indian agriculture employs 55% of workforce but generates 15% of GDP
“Agriculture employing 55% of our population contributes only 15% to our GDP, right?”
Assertion Supported
Krishna: Google invested $100M with Social Finance for career impact bonds
“Recently Google put a hundred million dollars into a fund along with Social Finance to set up Career impact bonds, which will allow people to go and acquire some Google certification for free, but have to repay only if they earn more than say, 40,000 dollars a…”
Assertion Supported
Krishna: PLFS data shows India female labor participation at 25.6%
“Today we are at 25 point something as our labor force participation rate for women. Men are at 74.4. Women are at 25.6. Overall, according to PLFS data, it's 50.2% labor force participation rate.”
Assertion Supported
Krishna: Indian women perform nearly 10x more unpaid domestic work than men
“Globally, women do four times as much work in the home, unpaid work at home as men do globally. In India, it's 9.8 times. Women do 9.8 times as much work in the home as men do.”
