RETIRED Or WORKING
Retired or Working
We in India , being an old-fashioned
country, are not used to see people idling or having private means and taking
life easy.
We place our friends / relatives /
people surrounding us – whether male or female as to whether they are Working, Retired
or still Unemployed.
But are these 3 categories enough to
group all persons ?
Let us see – off hand I can think of
several categories – such as ….
1. Working and getting a Salary
2. Retired and getting a Pension
3. Retired and getting no Pension
4. Unemployed – totally
5. Sporadic employment
6. Self employed – hence no retirement
7. Not having to work – having private
means
Of course there can be some more
categories, but let us consider the above one by one
1. Working and getting a Salary
At the employable age, we all want to
know whether person X is employed or not. We place all persons in regular
employment, whether in the Public sector or in the Private sector, organised
sector or un-organised sector, in this category. Next comes the enquiry whether
that person is in “Software” or ‘Govt’ or simply Private sector. They can be in
the Factories, Teaching, Sales, offices etc. Whether they work or just pass the
time and draw salaries is beside the point.
Employed |
After coming to know that they are
employed comes the inquisitiveness of how much salary they get. Of course there
are indirect methods of getting to know this – such as what post he is on - and
you get an idea of the salary.
2. Retired and getting a Pension
In India it is only the employees of
the Public sector, Government departments whether Central or State who get
Pensions.
38.76 lakhs were in central
government alone according to 2001 census.
50 lakhs were in PSU's (central and
state combined) alone.
Add to this state govt. and
autonomous bodies (including central universities).
It will be around two crore employees
(maybe more), ie. around two percent of the total population of 115 crores or
so.
But these people have the clout to
change government decisions, increase market rates, change policy matters etc.
The amount of Pension keeps
increasing every 6 months by way of the DA component in it, and within a few
years of retirement becomes more than the gross last drawn salary. Some may say
that the price of gold increases because of this!!
Retired & getting a Pension |
A decade or two ago such people used
to become Consultants after retirement, but now it is seen that they prefer not
to do any such activity because of the hefty pension they get.
It is a mute point whether they enjoy
all this largesse having worked hard when they were employed or worked hard as
the saying goes and are still having the last laugh !!
3. Retired and getting no Pension
All persons who were not in
Government service fall in this category.
All Private sector employees fall in
this category.
All persons employed in shops,
showrooms, cottage industry, and so on fall in this category.
Retired & no pension |
Self Employed persons who claim this
category is debatable, as they do not retire, hence are kept in a separate
category.
Those who fall in this category are
mostly the population who have worked as employees in the Private Sector, and
at the age of 58 or 60 are retired and left to fend for themselves. They have
to seek new employment mostly on contract, year to year, thus slog throughout
their lives.
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Retired & getting No Pension |
The moot question is whether such a
retired person with “no pension” having to work to keep the home fires burning
is now to be considered as “Employed” or “Retired with no pension”
4.
Unemployed – totally
Who is unemployed in India
is a big mystery. All self employed persons whether they are earning Lacs claim
that they are unemployed. Even the government is not able to decide who is
unemployed, hence the unemployment figures vary drastically.
All persons working as salespersons
in shops, petty roadside vendors claim likewise.
Unemployed |
All persons connected with farming
also claim unemployment
It turns out that in India , whosoever
is not employed by the Public sector, claims unemployment, which may be a large
percentage of the population !!
5. Sporadic employment
Daily wage labourers who get employed
one day and are unemployed the other day, fall in this category. House
painters, plumbers, masons, etc who stand in the labour mandi at 8.00 AM in
each city are in this category.
Some persons who genuinely could not
get regular employment, try their hands at different occupations time after
time fall in this category.
All persons connected with the Film
Industry may claim sporadic employment. Some among them have earned crores and
invested in 5 star hotels, restaurants, farms and other business etc., would
not fall in this category.
6..
Self employed – hence no retirement
Doctors, Lawyers, contractors, pandit
/ pujari, consultants, fortune tellers and similar people fall in this
category, as they are self employed and keep on working till they wish. Mostly they reluctantly stop working when they
become physically unable to work or due to very old age.
7. Not having to work – having private
means
People who get large amounts as rent
of property, interest from bank deposits etc fall in this category. The landed
gentry of yester years and Bertie Wooster are in this class.
Bertie Wooster |
So ….
The best category may be different according
to different tastes !!
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