How to use Ration Shop for Local Employment

It’s Covid times in every city, locality and State and Nation. I mean Covid times to mean the spread of Corona virus, causing all sorts of disruptions. When it comes to disruptions, the loss of livelihood, especially for blue daily wage earners like maids, laborers, semi-skilled workers, etc.

Now the Big Question for all of us is how to get the economy back in track, once we find a way to overcome the virus.

And when it comes to local employment, there is a serious information gap between job seekers and employers. I mean to say, how can these needs be fulfilled? How to create a forum where people in each locality can post job requirement and also view the profile of workers who are willing to work?

While there are many online portals currently available, it’s far from adequate for the group of people who dont have computer literacy, let alone have a mobile phone. So, what’s the next way to address this gap. What if I say Ration Shop could offers a solution for this?

Recently in Kerala, Government announced free and subsidized ration for card holders. And, thus ration shops got more foot holds than any shops in the area. From early morning to late evening, people of all walks stood in the line to buy grains and other items from the shop. And this got me thinking…. What if there’s a notice board which listed the local jobs, and contact details of people willing to work?

This would be an interesting project to try out? I wish I knew a ration shop ower so that I can place a board and ask

Who will manage the notice board?
Who will verify the credentials of the each job seeker and giver?
Who will ensure that its fair deal?
What’s the minimum wages?

This will be helpful for people like Viyayamma, a maid who used to come for work or one Mr Vinod, a hard-working man who’s looking for a job near Nedumangadu and many others…including me. What if I could spare 1 hour of my time to do some services like gardening or making a home-visit to teach bread making, etc.

I guess there’s a neighborhood app on smartphone, but we need to do something to reach out to people who are off-the Internet grid.