Lok Sabha Question No. 1916 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-14
Subject: National Employment Policy
Ministry: LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
Asked by: Bhartruhari Mahtab, P. C. Mohan, Margani Bharat, Sanjay(Kaka) Ramchandra Patil

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT

## LOK SABHA TO BE ANSWERED ON 14 th  MARCH, 2022

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1916 NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT POLICY

## 1916.SHRI BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB;

SHRI P.C.MOHAN; SHRI MARGANI BHARAT; SHRI SANJAY KAKA PATIL

## Will the Minister of LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government proposes to draft a National Employment Policy to  increase  employment  opportunities  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof including  the  terms  of  reference  along  with  the  time  by  which  the  said policy is likely be finalized;
- (b) whether  the  new  labour  welfare  codes  are  yet  to  be  finalised  and implemented and if so, the details thereof along with the time by which the same  is  likely  to  be  finalized  and  the  funds  allocated  to  the  rural  jobs programme, State/UT-wise;
- (c) whether a large number of jobs have been lost particularly in the informal and unorganised sector, due to the covid pandemic and if so, the details thereof  along  with  necessary  steps  taken/proposed  to  be  taken  by  the Government;
- (d) whether workers are facing challenges during registration, including due to  the  mandated  use  of  Aadhaar-linked  mobile  numbers,  on  the  e-Shram portal and if so, necessary steps taken by the Government in this regard along with the number of workers registered till date, State/UT-wise; and
- (e) the  benefits  for  unorganised  sector  workers  to  get  enrolled  in  e-shram portal?

ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT (SHRI RAMESWAR TELI)

- (a) At  present  there  is  no  Committee  for  drafting  of  National  Employment Policy.  In  order  to  study  various  facets  of  the  employment  &  unemployment scenario in the country, the Government has launched three surveys viz. (i) AllIndia Quarterly Establishment Based Employment Survey (AQEES); (ii) All India Survey  on  Migrant  Workers;  and  (ii)  All  India  Survey  on  Domestic  Workers. These surveys will cover both organized & unorganized sectors.
- (b) The Government has notified 4 Labour Codes, namely, the Code on Wages, 2019 on 8th August, 2019 and the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Code on Social Security, 2020, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code,  2020  on  29th  September,2020.  Under  the  Codes,  the  power  to  make rules  has  been  entrusted  to  Central  Government,  State  Government  and appropriate Government. There is a requirement of publication of Rules in their official Gazette for a period of 30 or 45 days for public consultation. As a step towards implementation of the four Labour Codes, the Central Government has published  the  following  draft  Rules  inviting  comments  of  all  stakeholders including general public:-
- (i)
- (ii)
- the Code on Wages (Central) Rules, 2020
- the Industrial Relation (Central) Rules, 2020,
- (iii) the Industrial Relations (Central) Recognition of Negotiating Union or Negotiating Council and Adjudication of Disputes of Trade Unions Rules, 2021,
- (iv)
- the Code on Social Security (Central) Rules, 2020,
- (v) the Code on Social Security (Employee's Compensation) (Central) Rules, 2021; and
- (vi) the Occupational Safety Health & Working Conditions (Central) Rules, 2020
- (vii) draft Rules under section 16 (5) of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020

"Labour"  is  in  the  Concurrent  List  of  the  Constitution  and  under  the  Labour Codes, rules are required to be framed by the Central Government as well as by the  State  Governments. The Central Government and some of the States/UTs have pre-published rules under 4 Labour Codes.

Budget allocation of Rs. 73,000 crore has been made for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) in financial year 2022-23.

Mahatma Gandhi NREGS is a demand driven wage employment programme and funds are released to the States/UTs on the basis of "agreed to" Labour Budget (LB) and performance of the States/UTs during the financial year. No financial allocation is made under this demand driven scheme to States/UTs.

- (c) As  per  the  Economic  Survey  2021-22  analysis  on  impact  of  COVID19 pandemic on the labour market using quarterly PLFS reports for urban areas available  till  March,  2021,  before  the  outbreak  of  COVID19,  the  urban  labour market had shown signs of improvement in terms of Labour Force Participation Rate(  LFPR),    Worker  Population  Ratio(WPR)  and  Unemployment  Rate(UR). However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the first quarter of 2020-21, the unemployment rate for urban sector rose to 20.8 percent. With the revival of economy  in  the  subsequent  quarters  of  2020-21,  all  three  labour  market indicators i.e. LFPR, WPR and UR showed a swift recovery. The UR gradually declined during this period to reach 9.3 per cent for urban areas in last quarter of 2020-21. The quarterly estimates of LFPR, WPR and UR for urban areas for the year 2019-20 and 2020-21 (upto March, 2021) is provided at Annexure-I.

Employment  generation  coupled  with  improving  employability is the priority of the Government. Government has taken various steps for generating employment  in the country like encouraging various projects involving substantial  investment  and  increasing  public  expenditure  on  schemes  like Prime Minister's Employment  Generation  Programme  (PMEGP),  Mahatma Gandhi National  Rural  Employment  Guarantee  Scheme  (MGNREGS),  Pt.  Deen Dayal  Upadhyaya  Grameen  Kaushalya  Yojana  (DDU-GKY)  and  Deen  dayal Antodaya  Yojana-National  Urban  Livelihoods  Mission  (DAY-NULM)  run  by Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, respectively.

Besides, Government has also provided fiscal stimulus of more than Rs. Twenty seven lakh crore as part of the Aatma nirbhar Bharat financial Package comprising of various long term schemes/ programmes/policies for making the country self-reliant and to create employment opportunities.   The Production Linked  Incentive  Schemes  being  implemented  by  the  Government  have potential for creating 60 lakh new jobs.     PM Gati Shakti is a transformative approach for economic growth and sustainable development. The approach is driven  by  seven  engines,  namely,  Roads,  Railways,  Airports,  Ports,  Mass Transport, Waterways and Logistics Infrastructure. This approach is powered by  Clean  Energy  and  Sabka  Prayas  leading  to  huge  job  and  entrepreneurial opportunities for all.

Further to mitigate the problems of workers/job seekers affected by Covid19  pandemic,  Government  has  also  launched  Aatmanirbhar  Bharat  Rojgar Yojana (ABRY), Prime Minister Street Vendor's Atma Nirbhar Nidhi (PMSVANidhi) Scheme,  Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY), Garib Kalyan  Rojgar  Abhiyaan  (GKRA),    Atal  Beemit  Vyakti  Kalyan  Yojana,    for generating employment in the country. Apart from these initiatives, the flagship programmes of the Government such  as  Make  in  India,  Digital  India,  Smart  City  Mission,  Atal  Mission  for Rejuvenation  and  Urban  Transformation,  Housing  for  All  are  also  oriented towards generating employment opportunities. (d) Besides  self-registration  on  eShram  portal,  the  workers  can  easily  get themselves registered through Commom Service Centres (CSCs) and through State  Seva  Kendras  (SSKs).  As  on  07.03.2022,  26.47  crore  unorganised workers  have  already  been  registered  on  eShram  portal.  The  detail  of  State wise registration of unorganised workers is given at Annexure-II. (e) All eligible registered unorganised workers are entitled to get benefit of an accidental  insurance  cover  of  Rs.  2.0  Lakh  for  a  year  free  of  cost  through Pradhan  Mantri  Suraksha  Bima  Yojana  (PMSBY).  The  registered  workers  on eShram  are  also  nudged  to  take  benefit  of  Pradhan  Mantri  Shram  Yogi Maandhan  (PM-SYM)  pension  scheme  &  NPS-Traders  pension  scheme.  The bank accounts of workers on eShram portal are seeded to provide benefit of welfare schemes, if any, directly to their bank account.

*****

Annexure-I

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (c) OF THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1916 FOR 14.03.2022.

Labour Force indicators for Urban Sector (age: 15 and above) at Current Weekly Status (CWS) (in percent)

| PLFS Survey   | Quarters              |   LFPR |   WPR |   UR |
|---------------|-----------------------|--------|-------|------|
| 2019-20       | July - September 2019 |   47.3 |  43.4 |  8.3 |
|               | Oct - Dec, 2019       |   47.8 |  44.1 |  7.8 |
|               | Jan-Mar, 2020         |   48.1 |  43.7 |  9.1 |
|               | April-June, 2020      |   45.9 |  36.4 | 20.8 |
| 2020-21       | July-Sep, 2020        |   47.2 |  40.9 | 13.2 |
|               | Oct-Dec, 2020         |   47.3 |  42.4 | 10.3 |
|               | Jan-March, 2021       |   47.5 |  43.1 |  9.3 |

Source: Economic Survey 2021-22

(Definitions: LFPR is defined as the percentage of population in the labour force.  Labour  force  comprises  of  persons  who  were  either  working (employed) or seeking work  (unemployed). WPR  is defined as the percentage of employed persons in the total population. UR is defined as the percentage of unemployed persons in the labour force)

Annexure-II

## Annexure referred to in reply to Part (d) of Lok Sabha Un-starred Question No. 1916 for 14.03.2022

## State Wise Registrations of Unorganized Workers on eSHRAM Portal

| Sl. No.   | State/UT                                     | Total Registered As on 07.03.2022   |
|-----------|----------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|
| 1         | UTTAR PRADESH                                | 8,22,79,198                         |
| 2         | ODISHA                                       | 1,32,27,758                         |
| 3         | CHHATTISGARH                                 | 76,58,321                           |
| 4         | UTTARAKHAND                                  | 29,01,201                           |
| 5         | WEST BENGAL                                  | 2,52,86,203                         |
| 6         | HIMACHAL PRADESH                             | 17,82,022                           |
| 7         | JAMMU AND KASHMIR                            | 31,25,481                           |
| 8         | JHARKHAND                                    | 88,42,708                           |
| 9         | BIHAR                                        | 2,77,17,998                         |
| 10        | TRIPURA                                      | 8,09,345                            |
| 11        | ASSAM                                        | 64,61,174                           |
| 12        | HARYANA                                      | 51,14,527                           |
| 13        | PUNJAB                                       | 53,16,746                           |
| 14        | MADHYA PRADESH                               | 1,49,61,205                         |
| 15        | DELHI                                        | 31,49,483                           |
| 16        | KERALA                                       | 57,58,600                           |
| 17        | CHANDIGARH                                   | 1,69,022                            |
| 18        | RAJASTHAN                                    | 1,15,04,821                         |
| 19        | PUDUCHERRY                                   | 1,73,858                            |
| 20        | MANIPUR                                      | 3,75,314                            |
| 21        | GUJARAT                                      | 77,41,921                           |
| 22        | THE DADRA AND NAGAR HAVELI AND DAMAN AND DIU | 71,121                              |
| 23        | NAGALAND                                     | 2,00,731                            |
| 24        | MAHARASHTRA                                  | 1,06,81,257                         |
| 25        | TAMIL NADU                                   | 67,38,532                           |
| 26        | TELANGANA                                    | 31,51,146                           |
| 27        | KARNATAKA                                    | 53,29,985                           |
| 28        | ANDHRA PRADESH                               | 37,84,900                           |
| 29        | ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS                  | 26,870                              |
| 30        | LADAKH                                       | 18,021                              |
| 31        | MEGHALAYA                                    | 1,93,771                            |
| 32        | ARUNACHAL PRADESH                            | 81,093                              |
| 33        | MIZORAM                                      | 28,818                              |
| 34        | SIKKIM                                       | 10,515                              |
| 35        | GOA                                          | 21,868                              |
| 36        | LAKSHADWEEP                                  | 739                                 |
|           | TOTAL                                        | 26,46,96,273                        |