President A P J Abdul Kalam on Wednesday mooted eight schemes to generate 56 million direct jobs in the next five years.
Inaugurating an international seminar on Income and Employment Security in India, he said there are 36 million unemployed in the country and there is a need to find value-added employment for 10 per cent of those engaged in agriculture sector.
"Our attempt should be to find gainful employment for 76 million people," he said adding, schemes like cultivation of bio-fuel plants, water harvesting and bamboo mission have a huge employment generation potential.
While eight schemes will generate 56 million jobs, the remaining would come from other employment avenues in government and private sectors, he said.
Bio-fuel plants grown in parts of wasteland, for example on 11 million hectares, can yield a revenue of Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) a year and employ 12 million people, he said.
Kalam said the bamboo mission that envisages an integrated programme of expansion of plantations of bamboo species, can create 8.6 million jobs with market opportunities of over Rs 6,500 crore (Rs 65 billion).
The President said the task for recharging traditional water bodies and water harvesting can create six million jobs for more than three to four years and even after the task is over, many people will be required to maintain them.
He said judicious use of fly ash generated by thermal power plants can create 300,000 jobs from 50,000 at present.
