IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM) e-ISSN: 2278-487X, p-ISSN: 2319-7668. Volume 11, Issue 4 (Jul. - Aug. 2013), PP 18-23 www.iosrjournals.org www.iosrjournals.org 18 | Page “Employment Generation and Poverty Alleviation in Developing Countries” Challenges and Opportunitiesspecial Reference to India 1 Shubhendu S. Shukla, 2 Ashutosh Mishra 1,2 SR Group Of Institutions, Lucknow Abstract: Implications of economic policies initiated and pursued by the Government for the creation of gainful employment opportunities. After independence, when India initiated the programme of economic development through planning mechanism, neither of the two prevalent economic theories i.e. the Keynesian theory of effective demand and the neo-classical theory of flexible wage rates was not found suitable to the Indian conditions. Poverty reduction has been an important goal of development policy since the inception of planning in India. Various antipoverty, employment generation and basic services programmes have been in operation for decades in India. The ongoing reforms attach great importance to removal of poverty, and addressing specifically the wide variations across States and the rural-urban divide. Anti-poverty strategy has three broad components: promotion of economic growth; promotion of human development; and targeted programmes of poverty alleviation to address multi-dimensional nature of poverty. The various programmes targeted at the poor have been streamlined and strengthened in recent years, including through the NREGS. The influence of macro economic environment on the industry speeds ahead economy generates more jobs and higher levels of wages and income through increasing productivity. To achieve these objectives, series of outward oriented policy changes i.e. industrial reforms, fiscal reforms, monetary reforms, trade policy reform etc. were introduced. An economic reform has been evolving historically and being propelled forward with incredible speed by the technological revolution. I. Introduction The present paper looks at the employment challenges faced by India within the framework of “ten core elements” identified by the Global Employment Agenda of the ILO (International Labour Organization). These elements relate to trade and investment, technological change, sustainable livelihoods, macro policy, entrepreneurship development, skills development, active labour market policies, social protection, conditions of work and poverty reduction. Following are the „ten core elements‟ of the Agenda, the first four addressing the economic environment and the last six the labour market: 1. Promoting trade and investment for productive employment and market access for developing countries. 2. Promoting technological change for higher productivity and job creation and improved standard of living. 3. Promoting sustainable development for sustainable livelihoods. 4. Macro-economic policy for growth and employment: a call for policy integration. 5. Promoting decent employment and entrepreneurship. 6. Employability by improving knowledge and skills. 7. Active labour market policies for employment, security in change, equity and poverty reduction. 8. Social protection as a productive factor. 9. Occupational safety and health: synergies between security and productivity. 10. Productive employment for poverty reduction and development. Employment generation has been one of the important objectives of development planning in India. The problem of employment is closely interlinked with the eradication of poverty. There are three main aspects of the employment problem in India. They are the problem of proportion of labour to total population, problem of productivity of labour and problem of unemployment and underemployment of labour. These three aspects are interrelated. There is low rate participation of labour in India. Low rate of employment among women is a striking feature in India. There has almost been no change in LFPR (Labour Force Participation Rate). The dependency rate is quite high in India. Problem of unemployment and underemployment is the chronic feature of the Indian economy. It is the main cause of poverty in India. Unemployment in India is mostly structural. The rate of unemployment is different in different states. Sector wise unemployment in India is rural and urban unemployment. Submitted date 07 June 2013 Accepted Date: 15 June 2013