The jobs of small people like farmers, petty retail vendors, contract labourers and construction workers have been disappearing at the rate of 550 jobs a day in the last four years and if this trend continues, employment would shrink by 7 million by 2050 in the country, said Delhi-based civil society group Prahar.

The World Bank has also said “India needs to go back to the basics and protect sectors like farming, unorganised retail, micro and small enterprises which contribute to 99 per cent of current livelihoods in the country.”

Pointing out that the labour intensity of SMEs is four times higher than that of large firms it further observed that the multinationals are particularly capitalistic and their investment commitments for the next five years of $225 million would translate into creation of only 6 million jobs, it said. It suggested that these sectors need support from the government not regulation, adding “India needs smart villages and not smart cities in the 21st century.”

Quoting data released by the Labour Bureau, the Prahar study said India created only 1.35 lakh jobs in 2015.