Central Govt rolls out initiatives to boost employment

Shri Santosh Gangwar, Minister of State (I/C) for Labour & Employment replied to questions in the Lok Sabha today, regarding the Government’s initiatives for job creation at the local level. The initiatives under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY), Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyan (PMGKRA) are aimed at supporting migrant workers, who were rendered jobless during the lockdown.

Aatmanirbhar Bharat, is a scheme that offers an economic package of Rs 20 lakh crore to facilitate creation of jobs for the youth across the country.

Under PMGKY, Gangwar highlighted that the Government will provide food grains, make ex-gratia payments directly into the accounts of beneficiaries, contribute towards the EPF for employees of certain establishments, and lend support to industries, particularly in the MSME sector. He informed that the wages under MGNREGA had been increased from Rs 182 per day to Rs 202, which has brought much relief to approx. 13.62 crore families.

Under the PMGKRA scheme, several programmes have been introduced to give a push to the infrastructure and economy in the rural areas, so as to provide local job opportunities to the migrant workers who have returned to their homes. The scheme covers 116 districts of 6 states and costs about Rs 50,000 crore and has a target of achieving its goal in 125 days through the Ministry of Rural Development.

Varioius measures have been announced to strengthen infrastructure logistics, capacity building, governance and administrative reforms for agriculture, fisheries and food processing sectors.

Gangwar shared that the Government of India has rolled out the PM Svanidhi Scheme under which working capital loan up to Rs.10,000 of one-year tenure, will be made available without collateral, to about 50 lakh street vendors, so that they can bring their businesses back to life.