Isn’t life a pursuit of happiness? All our tasks, routines, objectives, and hobbies are toward making us and our loved ones happy. This necessarily involves earning a dignified livelihood or income to support the needs, wants, and desires of one’s self and loved ones.
Earning for self and by self
A self-employed person is not working for others or at the will of others. It is about being your own boss. A self-employed person is one who works for herself, at her own will, and has freedom and control over her work and life.
The self-employed person’s objective behind any work is to deliver quality work independently. A self-employed person works for the purpose of earning profit for herself and spends time on the operation of a business. Self-employed persons include employers, own-account workers, independent practitioners, contractors, sole proprietorships, partnerships, entrepreneurs, freelancers, doctors, gig workers, actors, lawyers, etc.
Self-employed: Creating Your Happiness
We work with certain objectives and outcomes in mind. Both the employees and self-employed while being engaged in work need to achieve certain desired outcomes. However, the way these outcomes are achieved is also important. The self-employed enjoy creative freedom, flexibility, and innovative liberty to work at their comfort and convenience.
Various studies have shown that self-employed persons are happier than employed ones. Some of the reasons are–
Choosing Your Own Environment
To be self-employed means to choose your own space from where you will work. For example, a Chartered Accountant can do the taxes of a firm from a hill station in Shimla or a street vendor who sets up a small time food stall in the food streets of Delhi can decide the time of the day or days of the week when he wants to set up his stall.
Continuous Engagement with Work
The self-employed work for herself. She will earn money upon completion of a particular work or task. Her job is to complete the job within some given time. Her engagement to work will be at her discretion. Studies show that “Measuring how engaged people are in their work is therefore a really useful way to gauge their well-being,”
Freedom & Autonomy
The owner of a business has the flexibility and freedom to decide her own work hours and workplace. She also has the autonomy to make changes in her work or business. The person is his own boss.
Innovation & Creativity
A self-employed person is her own boss. She has the freedom to innovate and be creative. She undertakes the completion of the tasks as per her own brain and will decide how to compete with others.
Self Employment Income
The fruits of labor will belong to one person. The more you work, the more your income will be. If you work hard, smartly, and be innovative the earnings will be yours.
India’s Self-Employment Scenario
Self-employment is the biggest source of employment in the Indian economy. 2020-21 Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) says, 55.6% of Indian workers are self-employed. The number in India stood at 333 million in 2021. On a year-on-year basis, self-employment in the country increased by 7.6% in 2021. Between 2010-2021, the number of self-employed people in India increased by 8.1%.
India is a developing country, the above data may not reflect the grassroots truth. Self-employed people could be large in number also for the reason that the number of employment opportunities may be less in the country.
The data suggests that the self-employment income earned by self-employed workers is very little in India. The self-employed workers in India on average earn just Rs 10,643 per month. This is 60.4% of the average income of a salaried worker in the same survey period.
Therefore we need appropriate government intervention to enable economic activities.
Initiatives of the Government for the Self-employed
The Government of India launched a flagship initiative– Startup India. The objective is to develop a conducive ecosystem for the inception and growth of start-ups. It is to catalyze startup culture and build a strong and inclusive ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship in India. This scheme provides an opportunity for self-employment as well as salaried employment.
In rural areas, the opportunities for salaried jobs or employment are less due to the absence of enterprises therefore self employment is the only viable option to earn a livelihood. In this light, the Ministry of Rural Development has implemented the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). This is a poverty alleviation programme, among other things, that focuses on promoting self-employment.
The Self Employment Programme of urban poor is a component of the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM). It provides financial assistance to individuals/groups of urban poor for setting up gainful self-employment ventures/ micro-enterprises, suited to their skills, training, aptitude, and local conditions.
Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) scheme facilitates the generation of self-employment opportunities through the establishment of micro-enterprises in the non-farm sector by helping traditional artisans and unemployed youth.
Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) is initiated by the Government for facilitating self-employment. Under PMMY collateral free loans up to Rs. 10 lakh, are extended to small/micro business enterprises and to individuals to enable them to set up or expand their business activities.
Swabhiman is Smile Foundation’s women empowerment programme that trains women and adolescent girls to become financially independent through education, entrepreneurship, health, and nutrition activities.
