Over Rs 3,600 spent on 1.5 cr workers under employment incentives: Gangwar

Around 1.5 crore workers have benefitted from the Pradhanmantri Rozgar Protsahan Yojna (PMRPY), which incentivise employers for generating jobs, Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said Friday. The government has spent Rs 3,648 crore under the programme so far, the minister said.

The PMRPY has been designed to incentivise employers for new employment generation, where the government pays full employer's contribution towards social security schemes run by retirement fund body EPFO. "Around one crore 50 lakh employees have been benefitted from the PMRPY and we have spent around Rs 3,648 crore till now," Gangwar said at the International Labour Organization (ILO) centenary celebrations at V V Giri National Labour Institute at Noida.

"Recently in the Interim Budget, the government has brought a Mega Pension Scheme for the workers of the unorganised sector like rickshaw pullers, small shopkeepers, agricultural and rural labourers. Around 3 crore unorganised sector workers are now being benefitted from Pradhanmantri Jeevan Jyoti Beema Yojna (PMJJBY) and Pradhanmantri Suraksha Beema Yojna (PMSBY), which is free of cost for the workers." He also said that in the current scenario of new technology, automation and artificial intelligence, the fear of loss of jobs has been felt and Global Commission of Future of Work has studied all these aspects and gives useful recommendations.

(With inputs from agencies.)