Launch urban employment guarantee scheme,Jean Dreze tells Govt

Noted development economistDr Jean Dreze has strongly advocated an urban employmentguarantee scheme as part of efforts to address the twinproblems of poverty, particularly during exigencies like theongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and gender inequality throughgovernments programmes and policies.

The suggestion was made by Dreze at a three-dayInternational Conference on Gender Equality (ICGE II 2021),organised by the Gender Park under Kerala governmentsDepartment of Women and Child Development in association withUN Women on Thursday.

The scheme, which he called as Decentralized UrbanEmployment and Training (DUET), could be utilized for keepingpublic places like educational institutions, hospitals and busand railway stations clean by taking the services of joblesspeople in cities and towns.

At least one third of such jobs under DUETcould be offered to women, Dr Drze said and explained thatunder the scheme the government should issue job stamps to theemployers instead of providing funds in cash in order toeliminate corruption in the form of ghost employees.

Such employment should be offered only to thoseenrolled with workers' cooperatives to be launched under thescheme.

He appealed to the Kerala government to try outthe suggestion through a pilot project before scaling it up.

Kudumbashree Mission Executive Director SHarikishore, chaired the session 'Gender Equity in Innovation& Entrepreneurship Policies and Programmes: Role of Governmentand Related Institutions.' Other panelists were IT Secretary K Mohammed YSafirulla, Department of Women and Child Development DirectorT V Anupama and Odishas Commercial Tax Officer AishwaryaRituparna Pradhan.

The conference commenced on Thursday at theGender Park Campus in Kozhikode, abiding by the COVID-19safety protocol.

Pradhan, a transgender officer, said her experienceshowed that a change in the social mindset was crucial forensuring gender parity through implementation of laws andgovernment's policies and programmes.

Anupama called for sensitisation of every singleservice provider on the importance of gender equity.

Women should be facilitated to come out of theirstereotype roles assigned to them and ''discover new space'' inautomobile engineering and other technical areas considered asthe exclusive preserve of men, she said.

Safirulla listed the achievements of the ITdepartment in promoting women to become entrepreneurs.