Bengal govt to provide social security, skill training to

The West Bengal government has drawn up plans to provide social security and skill development training to workers of the unorganised sector, state labour minister Moloy Ghatak said. Ghatak, while replying to a question in the Assembly, also said that the government would make arrangements to provide job opportunities to families of tea garden workers.

So far, every unorganized sector worker had to pay Rs 25 for availing of social security measures, such as provident fund (PF), but the budget that was placed in Assembly on Monday did away with that requirement, the minister said during the Question Hour. Each unorganized sector worker would get a monthly pension of Rs 1,500 and one-time assistance of Rs 60,000 would be doled out to those ailing among them, he explained.

The workers were also entitled to get access to education, Ghatak stated. Taking about vacancies in government jobs, he said employment exchanges would earlier send out interview letters, but openings are now advertised in media, in line with a Supreme Court order..