Many Indians are choosing to work part-time, not full-time. There are many reasons for this:

Some want to work more freely, with flexibility. Others want to be able to spend time doing other things. Some are looking for a new career and don't want a full-time commitment looming over them. Some just like working part-time because they can in countries like India and Pakistan where there isn't as much demand for people of all ages in the workforce as there is in the west.

The Indian government is pushing for people to do more work, but with a workforce of just over 400 million, India is struggling to absorb this extra output. Few companies are willing to take on new workers and take on the burden of training them up.

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In the western world, many people are working longer hours and some are even working six days a week. But in India, many people still work just five days a week, because they can't find enough work to do. Obviously, there is a growing demand for labor and some businesses will be looking to expand, but there are so many who could be filling jobs that aren't doing so.

This might seem like a good thing at first glance, but with education levels in India only improving marginally year on year, it is unlikely that such an increase in part-time employment will cause more people to stay at school for longer periods of time. The expectations of the Indian education system are very low and a lot of students don't even bother going to high school.

Socially people could also find themselves being forced out of their homes as a result of these changes for both men and women. They might be forced to work long hours so that the family can make ends meet, but if the company offers them flexible hours where they aren't required to be on-site so much (such as working from home), many will take up that offer and leave their families behind. The families will find themselves burdened with the extra financial cost of paying for childcare at night when their wives are working.

For women, the pressure will be on them to put family first. If they want to get ahead in their careers, then they might have to make a hard decision between their careers and their family commitments. There is already a lack of good female role models in India and this is likely to see more young women leaving their studies early for marriage or domestic chores.

This could also mean that many Indian women who would have previously returned from working overseas (usually in the Middle East) will now stay at home full-time. They may even turn down job offers from abroad because they prefer this lifestyle over the one they experienced while being away from home for extended periods of time.

The burden on the family could increase and India will struggle even more than it is doing now. It is likely that there will be more women leaving the workforce, resulting in a decrease in female education levels and literacy rates.

The country's population may also rise slightly but this isn't something that people are very happy about. Population growth is already a big problem for India and the government has tried to tackle this with things like providing free food and medical services, but this goal still remains far off.

If the masses are told constantly and repeatedly that they need to be working harder, it becomes less of a shock when they find themselves forced into working part-time (even if they don't want to).