INDIRA GANDHI SHEHARI ROJGAR YOJANA

Recently, the government of Rajasthan has launched the flagship scheme for Urban Employment the Indira Gandhi ShehariRojgarYojana.
To provide 100 days of employment to families in urban areas on the lines of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA).
The government has allocated Rs 800 crore for the implementation of the scheme.
Target Population: People in the 18 to 60 age group are eligible for the scheme.
The renovation work at KhaniyonkiBaori comes under the water conservation works of the scheme.
People can be employed in other centre or state level schemes, already having a material component, and which require labour work.

Urban Employment Guarantee Schemes emerging in India

Swarna Jayanti ShahariRozgarYojana (SJSRY), launched in 1997, provided employment to the unemployed and underemployed urban poor through self-employment and wage employment.
In 2013, the SJSRY was replaced by the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM).
India has had a history of urban employment schemes, but none of them were employment “guarantee” schemes.

Urban unemployment Rates:

Most unemployment data, be it from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE)or the Periodic Labour Force Survey shows that the unemployment rates are typically higher in urban areas.
As per August 2022 data (CMIE), unemployment rate in urban India stands at 9.57% (Rural 7.68%).

Vulnerable Informal Sector:

According to the International Labour Organization, of the 535 million labour force in India in 2019, around 398.6 million have poor quality jobs. Further, the lockdown exposed the state of vulnerable employment in urban low-end informal jobs.
Vulnerable employment is characterised by inadequate earnings, low productivity and difficult conditions of work that undermine the basic rights of workers.

Way Forward

UEG Scheme interventions by the States are a welcome step which give urban residents the right to work and ensure the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Programmes like the Smart Cities Mission and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) have focused more on the development of bigger towns and cities.
It is important to re-focus our attention to improving the livelihoods and ecology of urban areas beyond India’s major cities.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT

Post Views: 45