The real problem, however, is that India is simply not creating the number of jobs it needs. A Crisil report points out that employment elasticity for non-agricultural jobs fell from 0.52% in 1999-2004 to 0.38% in the high- growth period of 2004-11 – that is, while every 1% rise in GDP growth resulted in a 0.52% hike in jobs earlier, this fell to 0.38% later. Based on the 240 mn non-agricultural jobs in 2011, this means each 1% GDP growth generated just 9 lakh jobs – a 7% GDP, therefore, means just 6.4 mn jobs while India needs 10-12 mn each year. The crux of the problem is that industry is simply not creating enough jobs, and as more work gets mechanized, this will get worse. According to Crisil, the employment elasticity of industry has fallen from 0.78 in 1999-2004 to 0.57 in 2004-11. That means government policy has to focus on stimulating employment-intensive sectors like leather, gems & jewelry and textiles and readymade garments where, sadly, India seems to be losing competitiveness. The other policy intervention has to be stimulating construction – employment elasticity has risen from 0.84% to 1.15% in this sector – either by way of low-cost housing or roads; the biggest source of additional employment creation in the Vajpayee years was the expressway program. Right now, going by Crisil’s estimates, as compared to the 52 mn non-agricultural jobs created in the 2004- 2011 period, the next seven years ending 2018 will see only 38 mn non-agricultural jobs getting created; as a result, while 37 mn people were able to move off the farm in the first period, 12 mn will have to move to the farm in the second period. That will make MGNREGA a permanent feature on India’s economic landscape for many years to come, and explains why the BJP is now calling MGNREGA a ‘cause of national pride and celebration’.